NYC Still Battling Over New 911, CAD Systems

New York City changed how it handles 911 calls last year, but the debate about the switch is on-going, and has been spotlighted again by the death of a 91 year-old woman last week in Staten Island after a wrong address was entered into CAD by a 911 calltaker. The family of the victim says she died quickly, and the 20-minute delay didn’t contribute to her death. But an official of the union representing dispatchers used the incident to renew a call to separate the 911 calltaking functions for the respective agencies, like they were previously. Before CAD and other upgrades last year, 911 calls came to a central calltaker at MetroTech in Manhattan, who would determine what type of emergency was being reported. Fire and EMS incidents would be transferred to those agencies’ separate comm centers for dispatching. The MetroTech calltaker would directly handle police-related incidents and enter them into CAD for dispatching to units. Now, the 911 calltaker fields and handles all types of incidents, verifies the location and enters the incident into CAD. The actual radio dispatching is still performed by separate teams of radio dispatchers for each agency, all located at MetroTech.In this incident, officials say the caller made a wired 911 call that should have shown the correct address of Rigimar Court. The victim’s daughter also verbally gave that address. However, when the fire dispatcher viewed the incident, it showed the street as “Ridge Loop,” about 11 miles away. At some point the location error was suspected, and a dispatcher called the daughter and learned the actual location.

The city’s fire alarm dispatchers strongly objected to the 911 call-handling change last year, saying that the alarm centers in each of five boroughs were more efficient. After this latest incident, Brian Kuntz, president of the Uniformed Fire Alarm Dispatcher’s Benevolent Association, told reporters that mistakes and errors are on-going with the new system.

“The New York City 911 system is so stressed that—in these types of situations, with this kind of volume,” Kuntz said. “You need to have an EMS dispatcher handling your medical emergencies, a fire dispatcher handling your fire emergencies, and a police operator handling the police department emergencies.”

Kuntz was elected union president last year, ousting 17-year president David Rosenzweig, largely based on member perceptions that Rosenzweig had failed to forcefully object to the city’s change in 911 call handling last year.

In a story posted by the city civil service newsletter, Rosenzweig acknowledged his defeat was related to the new dispatching policy and relocation of dispatchers. He noted the differences now that the fire alarm operators have moved from the borough comm centers to a central comm center. “The quality of life has changed dramatically, which I couldn’t help,” he said. “We don’t have a kitchen. We can’t eat. I think that’s contributed an awful lot to the ebb of my popularity.”