Dispatch Magazine On-Line

Snoring Dispatcher Confused 911 Medical Call

Gary Allen — Tue, 22 May 2012 23:07:10 +0000

A Montgomery County (Md.) dispatcher who answered a 911 call and then fell asleep snoring, confused a second dispatcher who thought the snoring was a person having breathing problems. The unnamed dispatcher who fell asleep has now been put on paid administrative leave during an investigation. The incident began on April 4th just after midnight with a 911 call from a woman reporting that her husband was turning blue from a breathing problem. County fire chief Scott Graham didn’t fully explain, but apparently the call was routed to a dispatcher to provide emergency medical dispatch (EMD) instructions. However, after answering the call, the dispatcher fell asleep. The answering dispatcher then took over the EMD process with the woman, for whom English was a second language. During the six-minute call, the woman’s misunderstandings of the dispatcher’s questions, and the sounds of snoring confused the dispatcher who was providing EMD. At least twice the EMD dispatcher mistook the snoring for the patient’s breathing problem. Graham said that EMS units promptly responded to the incident, and the sleeping dispatcher didn’t contribute to a delay or any medical jeopardy. Read more about the incident here, and listen to the 911 call here. Update: Fire department officials say the involved dispatcher has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation. The dispatcher was a uniformed firefighter who was 17 hours into a 24-hour shift.

On May 24, 2012 CNN’s Nancy Grace tackled the incident, and was highly critical. View excerpts from the video or the full video.

City, Police Department In Turmoil Over Phone Tapes

Gary Allen — Sat, 19 May 2012 01:35:54 +0000

The mayor of South Bend (Ind.) has demoted the police chief and fired the public safety communications center director after meeting with federal Department of Justice officials about telephone logging tapes, but his explanation of the incident is contradictory, and the statements of others raise questions about the mayor’s real motives for taking action. The situation began small, but has now swirled into a public controversy that includes the city council, the mayor, the DOJ, the press and teams of attorneys for all sides. The situation began in April 2011 when comm center director Karen DePaepe says she was performing a routine tape review, and heard remarks on a recorded line that were inappropriate. The tapes haven’t been released and no one will characterize the inappropriate remarks, believed to be racial in nature. DePaepe reported the conversations to the chief, but nothing happened publicly until January 2012, when DePaepe was contacted by a federal investigator as a witness in an investigation about the tapes. Then in March, mayor Pete Buttigieg began a personnel action against police chief Darryl Boykins, and the city asked DePaepe to resign. However, DePaepe declined to quit, and was then fired—without the appropriate notice or paperwork, DePaepe claims. Since then Buttigieg has refused to explain the matter, saying only that the DOJ officials were threatening to file criminal wiretapping charges DePaepe. Other sources dispute that the DOJ intended to file charges, and that the agency never trades personnel actions for the prosecution of a federal criminal case. DePaepe’s attorney said DePaepe is considering a federal lawsuit over her firing. Read a timeline here, DePaepe’s account of the incident to a reporter here, and Buttigieg’s justification for the personnel actions here.

Medical Dispatch Times Too Long In Los Angeles

Gary Allen — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:16:13 +0000

A lengthy newspaper investigation of Los Angeles Fire Department dispatch times shows that fewer incidents are being dispatched within a 60-second standard over the past five years, leading to a 26 percent increase in call handling times for medical incidents. The Los Angeles Times study of 1 million incidents determined that it took an average of one minute and 45 seconds to dispatch a medical incident last year, compared to just 1:23 in 2007. The city’s fire department now dispatches incidents within 60 seconds only 15 percent of the time, compared to 38.5 percent in 2007. Perhaps not so coincidentally, the dispatch times began turning worse in 2008, at about the same time the city and departmental budgets began to squeeze staffing at the fire department and its communications center. The newspaper’s figures add to an existing controversy over overall fire department response times that erupted earlier this year. A candidate for mayor questioned how the fire department calculated response times, and LAFD officials admitted they were using a six-minute performance goal, one minute longer than the nationally-accepted five-minute goal.According to the Times, a 2010 study by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) found that medical calls in two large counties took an average of 44 seconds to dispatch. The LAFD average dispatch time is more than double that time.

Even critical medical incidents take longer to dispatch, the newspaper noted. During 2011, just 35 percent of reported cardiac arrests were dispatched in less than 60 seconds. In 2007, 66 percent of cardiac arrests were dispatched in less than 60 seconds.

LAFD officials declined to respond to the newspaper’s dispatch time investigation.

Read the full Times story for more details and graphs.

Dispatcher Responds To Mis-Use of Chat System

Gary Allen — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:11:30 +0000

A Hamilton County (Tenn.) dispatcher who was fired for misusing the comm center’s computer chat system says she was singled out during the investigation, and that supervisors never told her what she and other dispatchers were doing was against policy. Teresa McIntosh worked at the Hamilton County 911 Unified Emergency Communications District, and was among 11 dispatchers disciplined for using the chat system for personal communications that included “disrespectful, mutinous, insolent or abusive language.” McIntosh spoke to a WRCB television news reporter about the incident, and said supervisors have known about how dispatchers were uing the system “for a long time.” She admitted the chat messages included conversations about favoritism among supervisors, including racial preferences. ”There were those, both black and white, who agreed that there is favoritism with the supervisors,” she said during the interview. ”As far as respect, I have given as much respect as I received,” McIntosh said. The comm center apparently does not have a specific policy on using the chat system, but disciplined the dispatchers under general provisions of the district’s Code of Conduct. Read more about interview here, and watch the video news report after the break. Update: KCCB-TV has learned more information about the situation, including the involved dispatchers’ personnel files.

911 Caller Murdered, Now Dispatcher Is Fired

Gary Allen — Wed, 16 May 2012 21:53:58 +0000

A Denver (Colo.) 911 dispatcher has been fired for mishandling a 911 call from the victim of a road rage incident who was later murdered when he returned to the scene of the incident at the dispatcher’s instruction. The unnamed dispatcher had been on paid administrative leave during an investigation of the April 1st incident. The family of victim Jimmy Reat said they are still upset about the incident, but feel the city appropriately fired the dispatcher. Reat was involved in a road rage incident in suburban Denver, and then drove home a short distance to Wheat Ridge to report the incident. However, the Denver dispatcher told Reat he would have to return to Denver to report the incident to police. When Reat and three friends arrived in the area of the incident, they waited in their parked car for police. However, the other person in the incident drove by and opened fire on Reat and his friends. Reat was fatally injured. The suspect’s vehicle was later found, but was determined to be stolen. No suspect has been arrested. Carl Simpson, executive director of Denver 911, said the dispatcher should have contacted Wheat Ridge police to coordinate taking a police report. “I will tell you we didn’t do our best work that night,” Simpson said. Read more about the firing here.

Analysis of Father’s 911 To Report Kidnapping

Gary Allen — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:41:01 +0000

An analysis of a Tucson (Ariz.) father’s 911 to police shows that his 6 year-old daughter was not kidnapped, according to a Web blogger, but the analysis falls short of concluding what really happened to the girl. Isabel Celis disappeared from her room during the night of April 21st, and her father Sergio dialed 911 about 8:48 a.m. the next morning. “I need to report a, uh, missing child,” Celis told the calltaker. At one point Celis appears to laugh or chuckle, and throughout his demeanor is calm and detached. The father’s 911 call has generated public debate about the fate of the girl, and even speculation the father is involved in his disappearance. On a Web site devoted to the practice of “statement analysis,” blogger Seamus O’Riley looked at the words that Celis uses in reporting his missing daughter, and also outlined how 911 calls in general can be analyzed. For example, he says repeated use of the word “and” indicates missing connective information, and the word “just” should be used when comparing two or more thoughts. Read the statement analysis of Celis’ 911 call here (transcript, pdf), and O’Riley’s conclusion that the incident was not an abduction here. Also ready O’Riley’s remarks on caller emotions during 911 calls here.

911 Caller Describes Family Massacre

Gary Allen — Tue, 08 May 2012 23:00:17 +0000

When a Gilbert (Ariz.) dispatcher answered a 911 call last week, she was immediately swept into an horrific murder-suicide that took five lives, with the lone survivor on the phone hiding in a bedroom and sobbing uncontrollably. Over the next eight minutes the unnamed dispatcher worked to obtain information from the 19 year-old caller, whose mother, sister and two other relatives lay dead at the front of the house of gunshot wounds. Also dead was Jason Ready, who killed himself. On the dramatic logging tape of the call, the dispatcher tries to balance the safety of the caller and the need for information as officers arrive. The dispatcher’s questions move from basic to specific, eventually leading to what Ready looks like and what he’s wearing, as officers arrive and need to confirm the shooter is dead. The call ends as it began, with the caller crying and sobbing, being led from the house by an officer. Listen to the daughter’s 911 call here, and also a dispatcher’s call-back to a neighbor who dialed 911 to report that he heard gunfire.

NYC Mayor Releases 911 Report Critical of System

Gary Allen — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:01:08 +0000

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has released a consultant’s 134-page report critical of the city’s $2.1 billion 911 calltaking system—after a judge ordered its release—and critics immediately said the original document had been heavily edited by the mayor’s office to delete even more criticism by the consultant. The report confirmed what critics and even the city’s auditor have said previously about the system, including poor call handling by calltakers, lack of standard calltaking policies, poor performance analysis, and a lack of complete integration of the city’s public safety communications. The analysis by Winbourne Consulting LLC also clearly demonstrates the complexity of creating an effective and efficient emergency response system in America’s big cities. The report was ordered after response probles to the 2010 blizzard that hit the city. However, after Winbourne delivered the report to the city last year, Bloomberg refused to release it to the public, saying that its release would inhibit his administration from making decisions on the recommendations. A state judge disagreed with Bloomberg’s position and last month ordered him to release the report. Last Friday Bloomberg’s office released only paper copies of the report, and said it was the complete Winbourne analysis. However, the city firefighters’ union and other critics claim the as-delivered report was 216 pages, and that pages were removed. City officials have denied that claim.

The city consolidated its three separate police, fire and EMS dispatching operations into one building last year, a process that took almost a decade. Previously, anyone dialing 911 would reach a calltaker who would question the caller about their emergency. That calltaker would then transfer the caller to the appropriate agency’s comm center, where a second dispatcher would question the caller and obtain information for a response.

The original intent of the consolidation was to eliminate that second step of collecting information. However, as the Winbourne report points out, despite moving the three agency’s dispatching teams to one location, call-handling remains a three-agency operation, adding seconds to the response time of all incidents, as calls are transferred and callers must repeat information.

The 911 calltakers have not been adequately trained, the report states, particularly for handling fire-related incidents. The fire department’s dispatchers are also inadequately trained, according to the report. The three public safety agencies use different mapping systems, the report notes, and much of the technology they use is duplicated among three agencies.

The report also notes that police, fire and EMS use different formulas to calculate response times. Winbourne notes that most cities combine answering, call-handling, dispatching and travel times to create a total response time. However, the report notes that NYPD does not track any of the call-processing time, and states its response time only as the combination of incident dispatching and travel times. The police department says their current technology does not allow them to accurately track from when a 911 call is queued to when its entered for dispatch. (see p. 62).

New York does not track one segment of its overall response time: the time from when a call is answered by a calltaker to when it’s queued for dispatch. In New York City, the clock begins when a call is queued and stops when units arrive on-scene. Critics say it is accepted practice among other major cities to include this time, and that the Bloomberg administration deliberately excludes it to make response times look shorter.

The report also criticizes other aspects of the calltaking process, including that calltakers answer the phone by giving their personal ID number, which Winbourne claims wastes valuable time. The report notes that dispatcher IDs are logged electronically and don’t’ have to be spoken to be recorded on the phone logging tape.

According to Winbourne, a staggering 39 percent of the 1,071,121 calls to 911 during 2011 were so-called “short” calls, accidentally made from cellular phones. The consultant recommended collecting more information about these calls and devising a plan to lower the number through a public awareness campaign.

Winbourne issued 20 recommendations with the report, and Bloomberg said he would move quickly to form a committee to study those recommendations.

Download (pdf, 50 Mb) the Winbourne report here.

Verizon Selects 911 Text Message Partner

Gary Allen — Sun, 06 May 2012 13:52:51 +0000

Ready or not, public safety comm center will begin receiving 911 text messages from some Verizon Wireless customers starting early next year, the company has announced. In a press release last Thursday, Verizon said it has selected TeleCommunications Systems Inc. to “participate in an initiative” to allow its cellular customers to send SMS text messages requesting emergency assistance. The press release did warn its customers they should, “always first try to contact a 911 center by making a voice call,” but said SMS text messages, “will offer an alternative for customers on the Verizon Wireless network who are deaf or hard of hearing and cannot make voice calls or who could be placed in additional danger by speaking.” Verizon spokesperson Marjorie Hsu described Verizon as, “at the forefront of 911 public-safety innovations.” However, Hsu did also not describe the many identified problems with using text messages to transmit emergency messages, including no intelligent routing, no guarantee of delivery, no guarantee of timely delivery, no acknowledgement to the sender, and no location data sent with the text message. There are just a handful of comm centers now accepting text messages sent to 911, and there are no standardized policies and procedures for handling emergency text messages. Some comm center managers are afraid 911 text messaging will dramatically increase the number of prank and accidental messages to comm centers. Read a comparison of a 911 voice calls and 911 text messages here, and on that Web page also download (pdf) a study of text messaging limitations written by an independent group.

FCC Waives Narrowbanding For T-Band Users

Gary Allen — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:25:55 +0000

As expected, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has waived its long-standing narrowbanding mandate, but only for public safety agencies that will eventually have to vacate T-Band frequencies under new legislation. The ruling last Thursday means that cities that are assigned 470-512 MHz frequencies can now focus their time and money on moving to other frequency bands—possibly 700/800 MHz—and not on the process of upgrading their radios to allow narrowband transmissions. The FCC issued its original narrowbanding orders in 1995, and set a deadline of January 2013. The order requires users of 150-173 MHz and 421-512 MHz frequencies to move from 25 kHz-wide channels to 12.5 kHz channels. For medium and large-sized users, the process can be time-consuming and expensive, especially since the radio systems must be in continuous use. The narrowbanding process has been complicated by passage of tax legislation in February that also funded a nationwide public safety wireless network, but also mandated a give-back of the T-Band spectrum. In its waiver last week, the FCC acknowledged the dual requirements for T-Band users that the legislation crated: narrowband by next January and vacate about nine years later. “Continuing to require narrowbanding could force many licensees in the band to invest in narrowband systems that may subsequently have to be relocated,” the FCC noted. “We conclude that it would be inequitable and contrary to the public interest.” The commission said it’s still committed to a “timely” transition to narrowband technology relieve spectrum congestion, and will consider how long waiver relief should remain in effect. Download (pdf) the FCC’s order and read a news story about one agency’s reaction.