NATIONWIDE 911 TROUBLES

ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Saturday, August 16, 1997 Vol. 1 - 228

NATIONWIDE 911 TROUBLES ...
By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst

Everyday someone who is in or sees trouble dials 911 for help. Many times, those same people who need emergency services, find the line busy.

How can that be? Maybe it's because someone else calls the number wanting to know what time it is. Or they want to know if the fish are biting. Or what's the best way to get to Yankee Stadium? Or even, believe it or not, how long to cook a turkey. These actual so-called "emergencies" would be quite amusing if they didn't really happen -- but they do. And the consequences of these "nut calls" can be really serious.

In every big city in the United States, the emergency 911 number saves lives, but it has also lost some too. The biggest problem with the system is really the hardest to believe -- it's that millions of people don't understand what 911 is for.

Since it began almost 30 years ago, 911 has been burned into the mental rolodex of every person. Got a problem? Call 911. In Los Angeles, a recent audit of the 911 system revealed that about 85 percent of the 3.6 million calls a year that flood that system were not actual emergencies. Nationwide between 50 to 90 percent of the calls to 911 are deemed non- emergencies.

Los Angeles 911 supervisor Barbara Pakenham said, "You wouldn't believe the calls we get. People don't have a clue. Someone doesn't like that their neighbor's stereo is really loud. So they call 911." LAPD Commander Carlo Cuido said, "Some people think it's a number that you use for any type of service. We're going to get silly calls no matter what. But we want the people who do have life-threatening emergencies to get through." Last year, an estimated 180,000 calls went unanswered in Los Angeles. The city of New York in 1996 installed a new $156 million state-of-the-art 911 system -- only to find out that some callers were being put on hold for as long as eight minutes.

Cellular phones have added new problems. An estimated 18 million cellular calls were made to 911 last year. But unlike standard phones, cell phones don't supply a caller's location and phone number on an enhanced 911 system. The Los Angeles County dispatch office of the California Highway Patrol answered 579,000 cellular 911 calls in 1996 -- many of them were non-emergencies and many of them were multiple reports to an incident. <Editor's Note: This CHP dispatch office is quite impressive and is staffed by highly professional people...its reputation is reportedly among the best in the country.>

The newest idea to help alleviate some of the pressure on the 911 system is a new non-emergency 311 number. Los Angeles has budgeted almost $300,000 to study this idea. Dallas is also studying the issue. Currently, the city of Baltimore is the only one with a functioning 311 system and officials, there, have declared it success since its October inception. Calls to 911 have been reduced in Baltimore by 20 percent.

Not everyone, however, likes the idea of a 311 number. Most notably the national trade groups that represent 911 dispatchers, equipment manufacturers and managers. They say that 311 could cause confusion. In Buffalo, New York, there is an advertising jingle for its non-emergency number: "For a real emergency, call 911. We'll quickly send someone. Non-emergencies, it's 853-2222 and we'll tell you what to do."

The national trade groups, equipment manufacturers and managers do have a point. It can be seen how an elderly person may become confused about what number to call when and to decide what constitutes an actual emergency. However, an easy three-digit number, such as 311, will garner more acceptance from the general public than a seven-digit number. Unfortunately, the KISS principle must be put into effect here. Whatever is easier is bound to work better. It appears that Baltimore has proven that.

In many areas of the United States, 911 is in very good shape. The exceptions appear to be in the larger jurisdictions. The large volume of calls to the 911 system is only one threat. Another threat is that many of the people who answer those calls are stressed out, poorly paid and ill-trained.

Dispatchers in at least some areas known to ERRI are poorly selected, poorly trained and poorly paid. In one instance, a person who could not speak proper English and who was extremely difficult to understand was hired as a radio dispatcher. Some people who are hired as public service dispatchers might be better suited to other employment and may never reach the proficiency that is needed for the important job of dispatching emergency services. Dispatch administrators may want to reconsider current dispatcher selection/retention methods in order to improve the quality of future dispatch operations.

One of the most publicized incidents that highlighted a problem with a 911 system occurred in Philadelphia in 1994 with the beating death of Eddie Polec. There was a national outcry after 911 tapes chronicled the 20 calls that were made by the public and showed 911 call-takers as being openly hostile to callers. One operator yelled at a distraught friend of the victim, "Don't talk to me like that!" It took 41 minutes for help to arrive, by then Eddie Polec was dead. The problem was blamed on Philadelphia's antiquated dispatching system. Officials there say that steps have been taken to resolve the problem.

The ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT is a subscription publication of the EmergencyNet NEWS Service, which is a part of the Chicago-based Emergency Response and Research Institute. This publication specializes in Law Enforcement/Fire/EMS/Disaster and Medical Issues.

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