Here's An Idea...

...only our readers had it about 100 years ago:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s choice to run Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications vowed Tuesday to usher in a “cultural change” in 911 dispatching to free police officers to respond to the most serious crimes.

  At his City Council confirmation hearing, Gary Schenkel said it’s high time that Chicago alter an outdated dispatch policy that sends police officers to respond to 70 percent of 911 calls, compared to 30 percent in other major cities.

  Schenkel acknowledged it won’t be easy to wean Chicagoans of the habit of dialing 911 at every turn, calling the emergency number even for minor matters. It will require a major public relations campaign to divert lower priority calls to 311 or convince crime victims to file their reports online, Schenkel said.

  But a two-year hiring slowdown has left the Chicago Police Department more than 2,300 officers a day short of authorized strength, counting vacancies, officers on limited duty and medical leave.

  The only way to ease the manpower shortage — short of a hiring spree the city can’t afford — is to find a way to stop officers from chasing their tails by running from call to call, Schenkel said.

OK, OK, we realize we're starting off negative here. Let's just get this out of the way - this isn't a new idea. It's an old idea that no one has had the political will to address for years. We and our readers have spouted off for years about responding to calls about "junior won't go to school," "I want my flavor of the week ejected from my apartment," or "the dope boys ripped me off." We should embrace any change that lightens the load of nonsense. So we'll open up the comments to "Calls the Police Shouldn't Have to Respond To." Then someone can forward it to Schenkel, McCarthy and Rahm.

If they had listened to beat coppers years ago, this wouldn't even be an issue today.