Tuesday, March 28, 2000
911 system slow to upgrade
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Public safety officials have done little to correct “grossly inadequate” facilities and “woefully short” staffing at Cincinnati's 911 emergency center, more than a year after they were urged to make wide-ranging improvements.
A committee of citizens, emergency officials and union representatives recommended the changes after two 911 workers were blamed for a 47-minute delay in discovering the bodies of police officers Dan Pope and Ron Jeter in December 1997.
But the city's Safety Department has pushed only a handful of the group's recommendations. The reason: money.
The committee recommended in January 1999 that the city's police and fire divisions:
• Expand the crowded 911 communications center or find a new facility. Instead, the city is rearranging equipment to make the center on Ezzard Charles Drive feel roomier.
• Replace computers and equipment with faster, more powerful systems and upgrade software to help dispatchers work more efficiently. The city made sure equipment was Y2K ready and is upgrading software but isn't replacing all equipment.
• Hire three more operators, three more dispatchers and three more supervisors to cover just the minimum staffing needs. The city has 16 vacancies in the 911 system. At full staff, 42 operators take 911 calls and 50 dispatchers send police and fire officials to emergencies.
• Involve 911 center personnel in discussions about computer upgrades and on-the-job stress. A committee has been named to work on this.
• Schedule police officers to spend time in the 911 center to get a better understanding of the job workers do. The city doesn't plan to do this because it would take police off the streets.
Many of the recommendations would be adopted in an ideal world, said Lt. Col. Rick Janke, an assistant Cincinnati police chief who oversees police communications.
“There always has to be a balance between what a city is fiscally capable of doing and what the ideal, perfect situation would be,” he said Monday. “Some of the recommendations would cost a good amount of money.”
The report did not say how much the proposed recommendations would cost.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported this month that the city pays 911 operators a starting salary of $29,169 a year — less than city employees who read water meters, drive garbage trucks and tend flowers.
“What they've got now is a revolving door of people because the stress level is so high,” said Janet Chatterjee of Clifton, a member of the committee that wrote the report. “They don't have the time or money to send people for retraining. Training boosts the morale, it gives them a break from the everyday work, helps boost the energy level and the interest.”
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