From integrating new technologies to staffing shortages, report highlights challenges faced by 911 answering centers

Over the last decade, administrators of public safety answering points (PSAPs) and 911 answering centers have faced innumerable challenges—from securing systems against cyberattacks, to keeping up with the latest technologies and meeting staffing demands in an increasingly stressful environment. It hasn’t been easy.

“The public safety leaders tasked with managing today’s 911 centers face tremendous pressure—staying on top of these factors can seem like an impossible undertaking,” said Darrin Reilly, president and chief executive officer of Mission Critical Partners, which released a report this week documenting these and other challenges faced by PSAPs titled “2022 Model for Advancing Public Safety Analysis and Insights report.” It’s intended to help leaders “make purposeful decisions based on how their organization fares in critical areas,” while enabling the industry at large “to collectively see where efforts should be invested in order to build a thriving and efficient public-safety communications environment for the betterment the communities where we live, work and play.” 

The report groups challenges into categories, such as land mobile radio (LMR), emergency communication center (ECC) operations, and cybersecurity and physical security, among others, and suggests solutions. For example, while there’s been a lot of changes in communication technology and interoperability over the last few decades, the report found that “many LMR systems still operate largely on analog technology and a large proportion of radios lack advanced features.” 

Common issues with LMR systems include piecemeal construction, with tower sites added incrementally and gradually as they’re needed. And because they weren’t designed together, interoperability or interconnectivity problems could arise. And in large structures like schools and shopping malls, which are constructed with materials that can block radio waves, signal-amplification systems are sometimes lacking.

Industry-wide, there’s a shortage of people with expertise in radio systems, and there isn’t enough money to cover maintenance costs or equipment upgrades. There’s also a lack of understanding among county and city leaders about PSAP operations and 911 answering center management, and a resistance to change among officials.

Outside the jurisdiction, there’s still work to be done at the state and federal level.

“Legislation and regulations still are focused mainly on legacy 911 systems and service, which limits the ability of jurisdictions to use money generated by 911 fees for the NG911 migration,” the report says. Along with a lack of understanding about the cost of PSAPs, “legislators and other government officials are not well versed regarding the capabilities of NG911.”

Limited funding and short-sighted thinking are also holding PSAPs back from evolving and adopting NG911 technologies. There’s also a need for “significant improvement in numerous critical areas required for a proactive and resilient cybersecurity posture—including basics like multi-factor authentication, password-management policies, and mitigating the significant risk from within, i.e., their own personnel, and/or third-party personnel, that is managing/servicing their mission critical communications solution sets,” a statement about the findings says.

But of all the challenges administrators face—from legislative to technological—staffing concerns are perhaps the most pressing.

“Arguably the most severe challenge impacting 911 answering centers today concerns a nationwide personnel shortage that has reached a crisis stage,” the report says. “Numerous factors are contributing to the crisis, including funding shortfalls, a lack of recognition for telecommunicators, an incredibly stressful work environment, the negative impacts of social media, old‐school recruiting and hiring practices, and many retirements.”

This talent shortfall has had a ripple effect across the industry. The deficit has created pressures for directors and managers of 911 answering centers to enforce mandatory overtime or deny vacation requests to make sure shifts are covered. For telecommunicators who are already working in the industry, “this has had “a detrimental effect on their health and well‐being and increases the risk of errors,” the report says, noting current vacancies are at around 30 percent—much higher than the 5 percent maximum number that exists in many ECCs. And “Even if a center is at full strength regarding authorized full‐time equivalents, authorizations don’t reflect the current operating environment needs. The current number of personnel doesn’t enable the center to operate its preferred shift schedule.”

Among many recommendations put forward in the report, suggestions include hiring a recruiter in-house or outsourcing recruiting to an organization “that understands the ECC environment.”