9-1-1 is not required to answer calls

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Reba

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From my local news:

A News 2 Investigation has uncovered that Charleston County Dispatch is not required to answer all 911 phone calls.

Last Saturday morning, Mt. Pleasant resident Lauren Shuler called 911 after seeing a suspicious man run through her yard. Shuler said she was worried about the man because a neighbor's house was recently robbed.

But, when she first called 911, the phone rang for 33 seconds with no answer, according to Shuler. The second call lasted 45 seconds and still no one answered the phone. It wasn't until the third call that Shuler got this response:

"Ma'am, we're extremely busy right now, I'm sorry," a Dispatch operator said.

Shuler became visibly upset during the phone call saying, "What if I had been stabbed in the throat or something?"

James Lake, Director of the Charleston County Consolidated 9-1-1 Center, said 21 people were working that night. However, five were actually responsible answering the phones. Those five workers were busy handling five emergencies.

"Others were actually operating as dispatchers and working the radios as well," Lake said.

According to documents obtained by News 2, the dispatch center's busiest days are Friday and Saturday. Despite the busy time, Lake said they don't staff extra workers on those busiest days because it is hard to see into the future.

"It's a problem anytime a call is not answered," he said. "However there is no way to staff or to prepare for the number of calls we might receive."

The Director said his 9-1-1 center is exceeding state and national standards. He said those standards don't require a center to answer every call that comes in.

"When someone calls 9-1-1, someone should answer the phone," Lake said. It didn't [happen] this time, and we don't all the time," he said.

Lake went on to say that they miss calls every day and will continue to do so.

Shuler said being too busy for her call is not an excuse.

"The one entity on this planet that I don't feel like 'I'm sorry we're too busy right now' should be an acceptable answer is 9-1-1," she said.

Lake said when Shuler called, the center attempted to call her back five times. Shuler's phone records do not show these missed calls. The county said the missed calls did not show up because when she dialed 9-1-1, Shuler's phone went into Emergency Mode. Any incoming calls are automatically forwarded to voicemail without the caller's input while in this mode. So, those calls would not have appeared in her call log.

Lake said that, if someone calls the center and doesn't get an answer, they should stay on the line and not hang-up. If they do hang-up the call, it creates a backlog for the center.

He said that Shuler should have stayed on the line longer.

"Her phone call would have been answered in approximately 20 seconds more, although it is a long time to be on the line to be calling 911, the call would have been answered and the response would have been quicker," Lake said.

News 2 pushed Lake to see if there were going to be any changes made to the staffing level because of this, he said the staffing is fine.

"No, we won't be going back to adjust it," Lake said. "We are staffed accordingly due to call data history."

According to the National Fire Protection Association, the Dispatch center is expected to answer 99 percent of calls within 40 seconds. Documents show that the center fell just short of that standard last year, answering 98.5% of calls.
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Chas Co. Dispatch not required to answer all 911 calls - WCBD-TV: News, Weather, and Sports for Charleston, SC
 
Part 2:

National standards, created by multiple agencies, don't require 911 centers to answer 100% of phone calls.

According to documents provided from Charleston County show that the Consolidated 911 Center uses standards from the state of South Carolina, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and the National Fire Protection Association.

According to officials from NENA, the standards they create are more like goals centers should try to reach instead of regulations.

Charleston County 911 Center Statistics

"We recognize that every 911 phone call is very important, and we want to try to get to the point where can answer every one of them," Vice President of Operations Ty Wooten said. "Everyone has to understand the reality is that sometimes we can't get to them all."

The Charleston County Consolidated 911 Center uses two standards from NENA. The first requires the center to answer 90% of emergency calls during their busiest hour. From 2008 to 2012, the center did not meet this standard, according to documents. The center is, however, on track to meet that standard this year with 90.8% of calls answered.

The second standard NENA creates for the county is to answer 95% of emergency calls within 20 seconds. Documents provide numbers of that statistic for 2012 and for the first part of 2013. For both of those years, the center met that standard.

Documents show that there are other standards that the center did not meet from 2008 to 2012, but the center is on target to meet those standards this year as well. Even if they missed the mark this year, the Charleston County 911 Center can't be held responsible for failing to reach those standards.

"[NENA] is not a regulatory body. We can only provide these best practices for 911 Centers to utilize to try and attain the best quality of service and level of standard care for the people they serve," Wooten said.

One of the biggest problems 911 Centers, like the one in Charleston, have is when callers hang up before their call is answered .

"When you call 911, you stay on the line until the call taker answers the call so that you can get the best service you need and you don't take resources away from others who are trying to do the same," Wooten said.

If a caller disconnects from the center before someone answers the phone, the center is required to call that person back. So, if that person calls back again, two call takers are then tied up returning the original call and answering the new call.

Another issue for 911 Centers is handling calls that come in from people witnessing, for example, a car accident. The center is then tied up answering dozens of those calls, so some may be missed. The Charleston County Consolidated 911 Center says to call 911 to save a life, stop a crime or report a fire. Official say if a caller does not know whether they have an emergency that can be handled by 911 to call anyway, so call takers can best direct the concern.
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National standards don
 
Non- Emergencies calls are to be made directly to the local police station. Hers was not an emergency, there was no threat...just a guy ran through her yard and a neighbors house was robbed before...so?
Did he threaten her, cause any harm, No.... Non Emergency, so she needs to get over it as she was just paranoid. happens all the time.
My car was being broke into as I watched, I was on the phone with 911 and they said they were busy..ect...ect.... I told them the thugs weren't getting my brand new car, so I told 911, im going to beat their asses if I get ahold of them so they better send an ambulance...and I was out the door, left the phone laying open. I almost got the thug ( one of them at least ) I used to run and these boys could run !!!! Chased them 3 blocks til I gave up chase....almost had one, just inches....damnit.
Had 2 black cops show up, they looked at the damages and didn't want to write a report, I was furious and asked for their supervisor to show up, they were like "Why? They didn't get the car.I was like, WTF? they tore the shit out of the door seals!!!
The supervisor showed up ( white cop) and asked why they didn't want to write the report? I didn't hear their response but the supervisor was pissed and told them he wanted them both in his office at the end of shift, so I assume they got reprimanded, the supervisor wrote my report for me. He said being I was in no harm or threatened it was a non emergency and next time call headquarters not 911. I told him it was going to be an emergency if I caught one, he said itd be better to hide the body...lol
I liked that supervisor !
 
sonocativo said:
Non- Emergencies calls are to be made directly to the local police station. Hers was not an emergency, there was no threat...just a guy ran through her yard and a neighbors house was robbed before...so?
Did he threaten her, cause any harm, No.... Non Emergency, so she needs to get over it as she was just paranoid. happens all the time.
My car was being broke into as I watched, I was on the phone with 911 and they said they were busy..ect...ect.... I told them the thugs weren't getting my brand new car, so I told 911, im going to beat their asses if I get ahold of them so they better send an ambulance...and I was out the door, left the phone laying open. I almost got the thug ( one of them at least ) I used to run and these boys could run !!!! Chased them 3 blocks til I gave up chase....almost had one, just inches....damnit.
Had 2 black cops show up, they looked at the damages and didn't want to write a report, I was furious and asked for their supervisor to show up, they were like "Why? They didn't get the car.I was like, WTF? they tore the shit out of the door seals!!!
The supervisor showed up ( white cop) and asked why they didn't want to write the report? I didn't hear their response but the supervisor was pissed and told them he wanted them both in his office at the end of shift, so I assume they got reprimanded, the supervisor wrote my report for me. He said being I was in no harm or threatened it was a non emergency and next time call headquarters not 911. I told him it was going to be an emergency if I caught one, he said itd be better to hide the body...lol
I liked that supervisor !
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No shit! You are lucky since the boys didn't have guns. Know what I am saying?
 
a solution for this problem - learn how to deal with it yourself.

robber? get a gun.
bleeding? get a first aids kit
choking? get a CPR training
fire? get a fire extinguisher

enough of this "gimme gimme gimme" attitude.

but building fire? serious injury? shot fired? call 911.
 
What happen if heart attack?

You can't ignore the 911 call. :roll:
 
Foxrac said:
What happen if heart attack?

You can't ignore the 911 call. :roll:
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they're not ignoring it. they just can't take care of it because they're probably also dealing with somebody with a heart attack
 
Choking?
heimlich_maneuver.jpg
 
Jiro said:
they're not ignoring it. they just can't take care of it because they're probably also dealing with somebody with a heart attack
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Bullshit! "I can't help you because I am busy with someone else having a heart attack". Know what? They can be sued for failing to do their job (sending an ambulance on time) since it was an emergency. NO EXCUSE!
 
CrazyPaul said:
Bullshit! "I can't help you because I am busy with someone else having a heart attack". Know what? They can be sued for failing to do their job (sending an ambulance on time) since it was an emergency. NO EXCUSE!
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nope. 1 ambulance.... 2 heart attacks.... what are you gonna do? first come, first serve, right? answering your 911 call won't help you if there's no available ambulance. instead of scrambling around like a chicken w/ its head off.... drive'em to nearest hospital!

unless you're willing to pay a huge increase in tax to fund more emergency personnel.

I live in a town with extremely high tax. because of that.... we have 3 different police departments here... and multiple emergency protocols with redundancies.... probably part of 9/11 federal fundings..... and also at least 4 nearest hospitals and that's just in NJ only. plenty more across the river (NYC).
 
Jiro said:
nope. 1 ambulance.... 2 heart attacks.... what are you gonna do? first come, first serve, right? answering your 911 call won't help you if there's no available ambulance. instead of scrambling around like a chicken w/ its head off.... drive'em to nearest hospital!

unless you're willing to pay a huge increase in tax to fund more emergency personnel.
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One ambulance available in your hometown? Sad!
 
CrazyPaul said:
One ambulance available in your hometown? Sad!
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oh I just edited in above post. I'm just giving you a simple explanation.

make it 4 ambulances then. so 4 ambulances responding to 4 calls... and what about 5th call? he's gotta wait then, right?

in my hometown... I think we have 2 ambulances, 1 fire engine, 2 fire trucks, and dozens of police cars. if we need more - we can simply call next town to assist.
 
Jiro said:
oh I just edited in above post. I'm just giving you a simple explanation.

make it 4 ambulances then. so 4 ambulances responding to 4 calls... and what about 5th call? he's gotta wait then, right?
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He probably think you live in Detroit. :lol:

j/k. ;)
 
Jiro said:
oh I just edited in above post. I'm just giving you a simple explanation.

make it 4 ambulances then. so 4 ambulances responding to 4 calls... and what about 5th call? he's gotta wait then, right?

in my hometown... I think we have 2 ambulances, 1 fire engine, 2 fire trucks, and dozens of police cars. if we need more - we can simply call next town to assist.
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Don't forget about car accidents that may require rescues. Anyway, I believe that there are many ambulance services all over. They don't work for the hospitals (independent agencies).
 
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