Cleveland 911 delays investigated

A Cleveland Police commander said Wednesday her department is upgrading software and hiring staff to clear up “Isolated” problems with the city’s emergency communications.

During a tour of the city’s new emergency communications center with members of City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which is located inside the Third District Police precinct, Commander Debra Cavett said the city has hired 12 new dispatchers and made software changes to combat a dramatic increase in call volumes.

Cavett said 911 call volumes increased more than 50 percent in November and December of 2015, compared to the same two months of 2014, after the city started handling all their 911 calls directly, instead of having cell phone calls routed through Cuyahoga County dispatchers first.

 

"Part of the calls, of the increase, was that a lot of people were calling and they would just hear the telephone ringing, and they would hang up and just call back, therefore increasing our call volume,” Commander Cavett said.

A new automated prompt that tells callers to stay on the line should reduce those volumes, Cavett said.

“We’ve made monumental leaps, don’t get me wrong, from where we’re at today, but there’s so much more improvement that needs to happen,” Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone said.

In November, newsnet5.com reported that some callers trying to report a shooting on the city’s west side were first routed to County dispatchers and waited for up to four minutes for a Cleveland dispatcher to answer the phone.

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“I mean, oh my God, come on, Cleveland!” a county dispatcher can be heard saying on one call. "Two minutes and 50 seconds, guys!”

Daniel Nemeth, union president for the Cleveland Association of Rescue Employees, said staffing levels are too low and said dispatchers for EMS are often working long shifts, six days a week.

“I think this was a system that was implemented that wasn’t thought out completely,” Nemeth said. "Not getting all three safety forces together and determining how they were going to implement this before they moved into a new communications center.”

Cavett said the city is working out the kinks in a brand new facility that is fewer than four months old.

“Our goal is to answer have 95 percent of the calls answered within that 15 seconds,” Cavett said.

Some calls, from callers who are located near city borders, or are located downtown, still go to a County dispatcher first. That’s because Cavett said a new cell tower just went up in anticipation for the Republican National Convention.