Furlough Policy Leaves Comm Center Understaffed

In an unusual move, last year the District of Columbia council included employees of the Office of Unified Communications, where 911 calls are answered and incidents, in a furlough plan to help reduce a budget deficit. Most cities, counties and states that have furloughed employees exempt emergency workers, including dispatchers. The first furloughs hit last Tuesday, and now the dispatchers’ union claims just three dispatchers were assigned to answer 911 calls from midnight to 6 a.m. instead of the usual six, and that up to 200 calls were missed. District officials admit that seven of the usual 30 dispatchers were on furlough during that period, but say they’re unaware of any missed calls. The officials also said the center still answers 96 percent of 911 calls within 10 seconds, above the generally accepted standard of 90 percent. Read more here.