City Audit Critical Of Center’s On-Going Training

Even though its training meets state requirements, Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) is lax on updating dispatchers about revised procedures, a city audit has found, and hasn’t implemented recommendations made in a 2002 audit. In a 26-page report, the city’s auditor also said the center also doesn’t analyze complaints sufficiently to determine how policies and procedures might be revised to improve service. But in response to the audit, comm center director Lisa Turley said that low staffing and an inadequate budget don’t allow sufficient time for on-going training. “Unfortunately, when there are barely enough people to cover the floor, we cannot schedule time off the floor,” Turley wrote to the auditor. The audit noted that it found deficiencies in its earlier audit and made specific recommendations for improvement. Ironically, the report notes that a recommendation to develop an action plan for “hiring, training and retaining sufficient staffing levels” is one of those that hasn’t been implemented. A graph accompanying the audit shows that the number of telephone calls and dispatcher “actions” has been essentially flat over the past six years. However, the number of calls/actions per dispatcher has increased 25 percent over just the past year. Download (pdf) the audit for more details, and read a news story about the report.