Report: Reforming emergency dispatch won’t be easy, but it’s necessary

Over the last several years, reforming law enforcement has been a primary topic of discussion in communities across the nation. Discourse has mostly centered around the challenges agencies face in addressing the complex needs of those in mental health crisis, and the disparity of experience among community members depending on their race.

But in this investigation, dispatchers, who are usually the first emergency services touchpoint those in crisis connect with, are oftentimes considered in tandem with other public safety agencies even if they act independently or don’t have the same amount of influence.

“We find ourselves with a 911 system that is under-resourced, under-staffed, not understood by the general public, not well positioned to nimbly adapt to future needs and, as a result, often ill equipped to adequately triage and deploy resources to ensure the right response is dispatched at the right time,” reads a report published Wednesday, “Transform 911: Blueprint for change 2022,” by the University of Chicago’s Health Lab. The Chicago university launched Transform 911 in 2020 in collaboration with other stakeholder organizations.

Along with administrative and financial challenges related to reforming systems, the telecommunication field isn’t as respected as other public safety professions. Telecommunicators don’t hold the same clout, even within the system.

For example, “a 911 dispatcher, who witnessed Mr. Floyd’s murder in real time through live surveillance footage, contacted a police supervisor to express concern and reported, ‘You can call me a snitch if you want to[;] . . . all of them sat on this man,’ and noted that the officers had failed to report that they were using force and to request the presence of a supervisor, which was in violation of departmental policy,” the report says.

The intervention effort wasn’t successful, highlighting that “911 professionals are often, as was the case here, unequipped to intervene when the downstream handling of a call is inappropriate and dangerous.”

Given the national reckoning with structural racism and a renewed reforming push over the last year for equity in public systems, it’s imperative that 911 systems are equally accessible and effective for everyone. Re-introducing 911 through intentional connections and concerted education outreach efforts is a first step.

Another important way dispatch organizations can address inequality and reforming systems is by creating relationships with community organizations, “with particular attention paid to demographic or identity communities who may have differential experiences and understandings of emergency response systems,” the report says.

Five other areas of focus listed in the report include advancing and supporting a professional workforce; making sure Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs) are independent, equal and valued as much as other first response systems; ensuring a diverse workforce; strengthening reliable and ethical data standards; securing national support for 911 systems.

Of those, independence is particularly notable given that ECCs are oftentimes housed in police departments. Reframing dispatch’s role in responding to emergencies stands to promote equity.

“We are calling for local 911 Emergency Communications Centers to be independent and equal public safety departments equipped to tap a diverse range of responses to best match the response to each emergency. This requires removing the default to police or another system common in many communities when ECCs are housed within law enforcement or another emergency response agency,” the report says.

In the modernization effort, there are many challenges. For one, given their behind-the-scenes structure, 911 systems are inherently complex and obscure, which complicates evolution. Another challenge can be found in a lack of minimum standards for data collection, reporting, technology interoperability and workforce training. 

“Combined with the lack of federal funding to address these challenges, (this) means that while the emergency number people call is constant, the response’s appropriateness is highly variable,” the report says. “This inequity in system responses almost universally disadvantages those in small, poor, or otherwise marginalized communities, and it undermines public safety and public health.”

Emerging technologies and innovative next-generation 911 practices, which can enhance system-wide equity, likewise inhibit progress because they come at a cost—both fiscally and administratively through burnout. As technology advances, telecommunicators are increasingly engaged in emergency situations in a more visceral way via visual content and other real-time interactions.

Notably, the rollout next month of a national 988 suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline—a federal initiative—will help reduce some of the call volume on 911 systems, but it’ll take time to educate people about the new number. Those who call or text 988 will be “connected to a trained counselor who will listen and provide support and connections to needed resources. The 988 hotline offers opportunities to decouple care and support from enforcement and is long overdue,” the report says.