D.C. 911 Director Says Sept. Report Downplayed Progress
The much-scrutinized 911 center in Washington, D.C., has completed about two-thirds of the recommendations from a D.C. audit report since a follow-up audit said little progress was made, Office of Unified Communications (OUC) acting Director Karima Holmes told D.C. council members Thursday. At a three-hour Judiciary and Public Safety Committee virtual meeting, members picked up on concerns raised at a September hearing (see 2209280058), pressing Holmes on recent audits and specific incidents where incorrect addresses and miscommunication led to dispatching delays.
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“D.C. 911 is not in crisis,” said Holmes, saying call takers understand the life-and-death stakes, and calls are accurately handled more than 99.9% of the time. "Human error is a factor, and unfortunately even in the best of circumstances mistakes will occasionally be made." Holmes expressed “heartfelt condolences” with families of people who died during incidents where there were problems.
OUC completed 20 of 31 recommendations from an October 2021 audit, and progress is being made on 10 others the agency agrees with, said Holmes, who was director 2015-2021 and was reappointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) in March. The Office of D.C. Auditor published a September report saying OUC had made zero or minimal progress on most of its 31 recommendations (see 2209090049). But Holmes said that report was based on a May check when she had been back only about two months.
OUC will change the script call takers use when answering calls, said Holmes: The current protocol, implemented when she began her first stint in the job, is “substandard” and “allows too much discretion” for callers to deviate from scripts. OUC will implement a stricter protocol used by multiple agencies across the country, she said. Holmes was responding to a question from Council Member Elissa Silverman (I), who said she observed call takers going “off-script” during a recent visit to the call center. In one case, the operator asked the caller’s location late in the call and it turned out that the call needed to be transferred to a different jurisdiction, said Silverman.
OUC added a “stop sign” to ensure call takers are entering correct locations, said Holmes in response to questions by committee Chairman Charles Allen (D) about how staff use and get training on technology that automatically determines location. When an entered address doesn’t match what the map shows, call takers now see a pop-up message asking for confirmation, said Holmes. The acting director noted location technology isn’t 100% accurate, only works for cellphones that make about 80% of calls, and doesn’t help when calls come from third parties who might call from another location.
Holmes said she filled several leadership positions that had been empty for months, including a training chief, and recruited many new call takers since she returned. OUC filled about half of 47 911-specific positions that were vacant when Holmes returned, she said. The agency requested another 28 positions, mostly 911-related, in the budget, she said. And OUC is adding more floor supervisors, she said. Hiring and keeping 911 professionals is challenging because of the nature of the job and the skills required, she said. Hundreds apply, but many drop off, including because they lack typing or multitasking skills or didn’t fully understand the job for which they applied, she said.
Allen and Council Member Brooke Pinto (D) asked how OUC will rebuild trust. "We have to work on being more open and actually putting out those good stories,” said Holmes. But not every mistake is a call taker’s fault, and sometimes the "loudness of the mistake outplays the safeguard that we put in place," she said. The acting director said she doesn’t “want callers to think the majority of our calls fall this way. They don't." Give OUC the “grace” to fully investigate incidents before forcing the agency to explain what happened, she added.
"Human error is inevitable, but it's inevitable in every job,” said Council Member Janeesse Lewis George (D): When there are patterns of mistakes, OUC should give “solutions,” not “excuses.” Thursday’s meeting wasn’t meant to be a "confirmation hearing or about playing gotcha,” said Allen. "I hope that we're going to see a plan, a vision and a commitment to making necessary improvements."