DC dispatchers to receive more training after series of mistakes
Emergency response leaders order more training for new employees
For years, the DC Office of Unified Communications (OUC) has been criticized on how it handles 911 calls and responds to emergencies. After an oversight hearing last week, the department announced all dispatchers will receive 10 times the amount of current training.
WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) - For years, the DC Office of Unified Communications (OUC) has been criticized on how it handles 911 calls and responds to emergencies. After an oversight hearing last week, the department announced all dispatchers will receive 10 times the amount of current training.
According to OUC’s Interim Director, Cleo Subido, new dispatchers will receive 160 hours of geographical training instead of only 16.
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They will specifically focus on the city’s parks, trails, and waterways since those are hard to get to places.
After learning more about spots in DC, dispatchers will have to do a presentation on what they learned to prove they understand.
Current dispatchers will also get refresher courses.
This all comes after the discovery that dispatchers are to blame for first responders being sent to wrong locations during emergency situations, according to Subido.
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FOX 5’s Sierra Fox questioned Subido about why OUC is all of a sudden being transparent about this when it has been an ongoing problem.
"I don’t think it’s the first it’s being handled, but it’s the first time we’re sharing how it has been handled," said Subido. "We are human beings and there will always be errors, but what we want to do is look at those errors that we make, see what kind of an error was it, address any issues we can from it – if it is a situation where we have to address the employee."
FOX 5’s Sierra Fox asked Subido if she has had to fire any dispatchers due to serious mistakes and she said yes, but could not give specifics about which situations. She said there are a range of punishments from verbal warnings to unpaid administrative leave.
There have been several incidents where delays in response times and first responders being sent to wrong addresses has resulted in death.
According to a FOX 5 report in 2015, it took 12 minutes for first responders to aid help to a toddler who ended up dying after choking on grapes.
Back in 2019, FOX 5 uncovered that it took 4 minutes to send help to a deadly fire on Kennedy Street Northwest that claimed two lives.
Most recently, in November 2020, Sheila Shepperd died from a heart attack on Oglethorpe Street in Northeast because the ambulance went to a home in Northwest instead.
When FOX 5’s Sierra Fox updated the mother of Sheila Shepperd, Billie Shepperd, about OUC’s improvement plans, she said they need all the help they can get and she is still disappointed and saddened by what happened to her daughter.
Another issue the OUC acknowledged is that first responders are having a hard time getting in touch with dispatchers during emergency situations.
Dave Statter, a safety advocate who has been tracking DC’s 911 center errors for years, said there is an ongoing problem with unanswered radio transmissions.
"I’ve documented 13 times in 13 months where DC 911 just did not answer emergency radio channels when DC fire & ems were calling. The most recent one was on Monday morning," said Statter.
He is cautiously optimistic with how they are handling these situations because Statter said it is the first time the OUC is owning up to their mistakes.
"These problems at DC 911 are long-standing ever since the creation of the Office of Unified Communications. There is evidence that dispatchers and call takers don’t know the city well. They don’t know the geography, they don’t know the landmarks, they don’t know the highway exits. That’s a problem," said Statter.
To help the OUC improve, the interim director is asking people who live in the District to give a full address and make sure they mention what quadrant they live in when they call 911. She understands it is the OUC’s job to verify that information because people are calling during frantic situations, but it would be very helpful.