Angry NYC Council Demands Dispatching Changes

An angry group of New York City city council members raised questions about improvements of the city’s public safety communications system, noting that it was seven years behind schedule and $1 billion over budget. Members of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice Services also heard information about how a recent fatal vehicle accident was handled, in the wake of criticism that an emergency response was delayed. Much of the committee’s criticism focused on how response times are calculated. Traditionally, the city clocked that figure from when the calltaker was finished with the call to when emergency units arrived. Committee members are proposing a city law to start the clock when a 911 call is first answered, in order to provide more accurate performance statistics. Outside, dispatchers and firefighter held a press conference to explain how mayor Bloomberg’s administration had “lied” about response times. Inside the hearing, Dep. mayor Cas Holloway warned council members to ignore claims being made in the press, which he said were being made for political purposes. Holloway told the council that the city’s previous computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system was installed in 1963, and built around an airline reservation system. He outlined how telephone, radio and computer systems are being updated and expanded. Watch the entire council subcommittee hearing video here, which includes a 90-minute comprehensive explanation of the city’s emergency communications system. Read about the committee hearing itself here., and download (pdf) the proposed laws on response time reporting.

In the case of the accident that claimed the life of 4 year-old Ariel Russo, Holloway revealed several new details on how the incident was handled by dispatchers. Russo’s mother Sofia attended the hearing, dressed in black. Several members of the committee expressed their condolences to Sofia Russo during their opening statements.

Holloway the auto-pedestrian accident involving Ariel Russo and her grandmother was first reported to the comm center by an officer using his radio, not a passerby 911 call. It then took 32 seconds for an incident to be entered into the CAD system.

Holloway said a dispatcher assigned to monitor pending EMS incidents was on a break. It took three minutes and 57 seconds before another dispatcher sat down and logged in order to see the pending incident. That dispatcher then took five seconds for the dispatcher to send EMS units to the accident. The units took 3:33 to arrive, making the entire response time 8:42.

Holloway noted that the longer response time was not caused by technology, but instead by a personnel problem.