More County 911 Criticism

Local media are focusing on more problems at the Pasco County (Fla.) public safety comm center, including delays in transferring 911 calls from the fire-rescue calltakers to the sheriff’s dispatchers, who are located just over a partition in the same room. A WTSP-TV reporter learned that all 911 calls are answered by the fire-rescue dispatchers, and then transferred to the sheriff’s dispatchers if they are law enforcement related. The reporter obtained telephone call records for a single day, and found that many calls go unanswered during the transfer, including one call over a minute. Spokesmen for fire-rescue and sheriff’s office offering differing views of how the operation works. Read the story and watch the video report here.