911 call takers are miserable. There really should be better known options for the public to call and self-select what level the issue is. I think there are motivations by government members to not have that though. I know in my building that people calling about non-emergency and/or non-time-sensitive crimes like burglaries where the damage is long done are told by police to call 911 instead of the non-emergency regular local police department number.
And then they don't come out anyway blaming covid or budgets or more important crime or whatever they can to not have to do anything. It's really bad lately, as sys pointed out recently, as withholding services is turning out to be a good way to get support.