Like many of you, I am frustrated – and appalled, to be honest – by the utter failure of OUC to answer the phone and properly dispatch emergency services to residents. Earlier today, I sent a letter to the City Administrator & Office of Unified Communications to express my deep concern with the persistent mismanagement of emergencies and lack of transparency, and the seeming lack of interest in fixing it.
The agency has a documented history of making critical errors, including dispatching EMS to the wrong address, misdirecting calls, failing to prioritize emergencies, and not answering 911 calls.
In the letter, I cite several incidents in Ward 1 alone in a short period of time. I’ve received a lot more emails and calls from residents in the past two months than I typically do in a year.
Residents must have confidence that when they call 911 someone will answer their call and will dispatch the services they need quickly. Right now, they do not have that confidence. And neither do I.
Even if the Mayor downplays the agency’s deficiencies and allows for obfuscation, I remain committed to holding OUC accountable until significant improvements are made.
In the letter, I requested daily staffing statistics for the past 2 years, an updated list and number of agency mistakes for April to June, and an immediate briefing on the changes, anticipated or enacted, that the OUC will take to correct these systemic failures.
Let me know what you are experiencing, and I will continue to press OUC and the executive on the urgency of fixing this alarming deficiency.
