Re: 911:: A Strange Experience

[Guest guest]

I really doubt that your experience was " strange " ... I believe you might

have a similar experience calling any major 9-1-1 center....

>Do your agencies have standards covering the time to answer a call?

Yes... calls are supposed to be answered within so many rings...

Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't...

In the large centers I've seen/worked in... it was not unusual for the

calltakers to be overwhelmed.. and fall far behind on being able to

answer the calls quickly... Mostly because a huge percentage

of the calls were not true emergencies, and they were always short

of personnel.

I know of at least one major metro center that has a very large automatic

" counter " that hangs above the call takers... It totals the number

of calls that need answering.... that total gets quite high during busy

periods.

At this same center, in the bottom of the CAD screen, there will be

a number flashing.. this shows the number of calls you have waiting

to be dispatched... This number also gets quite high during busy

periods... and no units available to send..

Of course, the " hot " calls come to the top of your screen.. and you'll

find someone to send... but it wasn't unusual to have over 20 calls pending

and no units to send to them... (Coming from a rural area, where we sent

a unit to every call, in a fairly short period of time, I could never get

used to this).

>Without any further questions she

told me she was transferring me to Fire Rescue. Perhaps 20 seconds

elapsed, and I had to repeat the entire thing to the next call taker. <

Again, not that unusual, in many major centers.. a call taker will take the

information for entry into a computer.. which " switches " the computer entry to

the " sector " dispatcher for dispatch.... but in case of Fire or EMS

they automatically switch the call to a Fire/EMS dispatcher.. they may

stay on the line long enough to determine if a police presence

is needed... but Fire/Rescue/EMS is an entirely different dispatch.

>Second, would any of your

agencies have taken the information only to transfer the call, not pass

anything on, and not ask for call back information.<

Probably would have done what it sounds like this dispatcher did...

Call needs rescue/ems... drop down call to rescue/ems dispatch.. listen to

see if police presence is needed... send them... go on to the next call...

(Which very likely is going to be one of many.. many..calls reporting

this same accident)

And from the great response time you received... sounds like they

did a fine job....

If you've never worked in a major metro center, take it from me, you have

no idea what these people go through...

Sometimes it's... do the best we can... and hope it works out...

Weintraut

[Guest guest]

...I just recently saw something very similar in the Metro Nashville Comm

Center. Not sure if I liked the idea...what an additional pressure device that

could be .

Freida

LaVergne, TN

wrote:

> I know of at least one major metro center that has a very large automatic

> " counter " that hangs above the call takers... It totals the number of calls

that

> need answering.... that total gets quite high during busy periods.

>