A Strange Experience

[Guest guest]

Our agency does not have a set time limit to answer the phones. It's never been

an issue. They do keep track and if there was a delay all the time they would

let us know. If I'm transferring a call I'll just stay on the line until the

other agency has the caller on the line. We are not allowed to give a caller a

number to call during an emergency. We are required to transfer to the correct

agency. That way we don't need to gather the information.

Jim J

Mr 911

Tricom (Me talking!! Not my agency!!)

BEGIN PASTE>>>>>Do your agencies have standards covering the time to answer a

call? Now

keep in mind, this is a major county, with centralized County Police, Fire,

and EMS services. I am familiar with their communications center, which is

pretty extensive, and state-of-the-art. It seems that 90 seconds is a long

time to answer a 9-1-1 call (this was 6:30PM). Second, would any of your

agencies have taken the information only to transfer the call, not pass

anything on, and not ask for call back information.<<<<<END PASTE

[Guest guest]

I would guess that the first person you spoke with is with an agency

equivalent to our Highway Patrol. She needs the information to know if her

agency will need to respond, and to know where to direct your call. I am

sure if for some reason she lost contact with you, she would have made

notifications from the information she got from you.

The fact that the Fire/ Rescue dispatcher did not tell you that they had

already received the information doesn't really mean anything. The accident

very well may have been reported, yet the calltaker 1) might not have KNOWN

that the info was already received or 2) didn't feel the need to tell you

that they already had the info. Maybe he/she was busy, 6:30 p.m. in most

major metropolitan areas is rush hour. What's important here is the response

time. A 2 minute response time in a major metro area sounds really good to

me. With regard to " standards covering a time to answer a call " , I believe

the State of California's desired " time " is " by the third ring " . I have

never really heard of a specific " time in seconds " standard, although I

would bet money that O. knows of one. No matter what the standard is,

the deciding factor in dispatcher response is workload. I don't think anyone

on this list would hold the " more than 20 rings " over our colleague's head.

Until you have walked a mile in these shoes (or sat a shift in this chair),

there's no telling what caused the delay. I am sure whoever it was, they

were not just sitting there twirling their hair when your call came in. I

don't mean to sound indignant or defensive, but although it may have been

incovenient for you as a reporting party, when all was said and done, a

dispatcher got help there in 2 minutes.

Tess Serna

Paso Robles PD

Paso Robles, CA

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 6/21/2001 2:28:44 AM Central Daylight Time,

911console writes:

> Second, would any of your

> agencies have taken the information only to transfer the call, not pass

> anything on, and not ask for call back information.

>

When we answer the 911 lines (usually on the first or second ring by the

way), as soon as the caller makes any indication that they require

Fire/Medical attention, we immediately press the " FIRE " button (we already

know where they are calling from, thanks to the modern wonder of ANI/ALI),

which transfers the call to a centralized Fire/EMS dispatch center (there are

3 such centers in St. Louis County). However, we DO NOT HANG UP. We stay on

the line while the Fire dispatcher takes patient information, gives

pre-arrivals, etc. This allows us to avoid making the caller give

information twice and also lets Fire know that we also have all the

information. At the end of the call, the Fire dispatcher will ask if we are

clear, to make sure we are both on the same page. We usually dispatch the PD

unit either just after hanging up or during the call while Fire is giving

pre-arrivals (we send Police on all Fire/EMS calls).

Cell phone calls are a bit different - St Louis County PD is the regional

PSAP for cell phone calls (lucky them). Since they don't know the exact

location, you will probably be asked that first. Then comes the " are there

any injuries " question, of which the answer determines whether or not you get

to talk to the fine people in one of the Fire/EMS dispatch centers. The same

basic procedure as " land line " calls is followed, minus the benefits of the

ANI/ALI display when you answer the phone.

Hope my blurb helps shed some light on how we do things around " these here

parts. "

Albright

Ballwin PD/911

St. Louis County, MO