Another 911 Center Struggles with Staffing

I haven't seen one of these stories in a while. I really doubt that means that 911 centers have figured out their staffing problems. CMPD Addresses Concerns About 911 Response Time Amid Staffing Shortage - WCCB Charlotte's CW

Some 911 callers have complained about being left on hold for several minutes during an emergency situation.

CMPD says it has been aggressive in trying to combat the issue.

Right now, the department’s call center is short 16 positions of the 126 in the budget.

Being on hold, waiting for 911 when there is an emergency is not a good feeling. If that stretches from a handful of seconds to minutes, I can only imagine how someone would feel.

They don't say if the 126 budgeted positions are enough, or if they didn't bother to budget for people they know they can't hire.

While they do mention an increase in the hiring bonus, no where in the article is pay mentioned. Working in a 911 center must be a high stress job. No on ever calls 911 because things are going great. If that stress comes with low pay, and a lot of mandatory overtime, then turnover will be a problem, and it is a problem for a lot of jurisdictions. While the article - and the representative from the police department - talks a lot about hiring, nothing is said about retention. Hiring lots of people helps, but only if those people, or a large number of them, stick around for the long term. If you hire a lot of people and then they quit six months or a year later, you have not solved your problem.

Calling 911 is a fine thing to do in an emergency, but what happens if there is no one to answer the phone? Even if they do answer the phone quickly, police or fire or EMS will not show up instantly. This is why I keep a fire extinguisher in my kitchen, have a fairly complete first aid kit, and own firearms. You need to have a plan for what you will do before help arrives.