I’ve been pushing the Office of Unified Communications over the past several months over its systemic and technology-specific issues that are resulting in delayed and incorrect responses to 911 emergencies.

Today, I joined Councilmember Brooke Pinto of the Justice & Public Safety Committee for an oversight hearing to ask about protocols for when the power goes out or a database goes down, what redundancies are in place, and what kind of training OUC employees have to handle 911 calls when the system is down.  

Read my full remarks below the video.

Full Remarks: Judiciary & Public Safety and Public Works & Operations Joint Roundtable, December 4, 2024

I continue to be deeply concerned about serious and persistent issues at the Office of Unified Communications that impact the agency’s essential operations, as well as the lack of transparency with the public and the Council about these failures.

When residents need help in a life-threatening situation in the District, there is no confidence that they will get the help they need, quickly. Residents are afraid that their call won’t be answered, that first responders will not be sent to the right place, or that the right help will not be sent.

We’ve heard real-life stories from our constituents about these mistakes. I think about this issue as a Councilmember, as a neighbor, and as a mom of two young girls, one of whom has life threatening food allergies, and would need immediate medical attention if she were to consumer her allergens.

Would 911 answer? How quickly? Would they send the right first responders and would they send them to my correct address? What might happen to my child while I’m waiting.

This is played out multiple times every day across the District.

Before I continue, let me be clear that I have the utmost respect for the call takers and dispatchers and the incredibly demanding and consequential work they do. I do not lay these challenges at their feet. I appreciated the opportunity to tour OUC this fall, and the time that leadership there took to show me around and see the daily operations.

But, the continuing deficiencies that we have seen for many years are the result of systemic issues, inadequate training, technology failures, and more. OUC is failing our residents – and also its employees. Today I will ask the Director about OUC operations and what structural changes the agency is making to correct these persistent failures.

We have also seen that the technology relied on by our call takers and dispatchers has failed us, and we are joined today by the Chief Technology Officer to address these concerns.

Several technology failures over the past year have seriously hampered the ability of OUC to respond to calls quickly and accurately. OUC has at times lost access to the entirety of its computer-aided dispatching system, and separately to its location-tracking software.

If ever there were a situation in which we should demand near-zero-percent downtime in a technology platform, this is it.

Of course, even the most advanced technology is not perfect, but gaps in service must be much shorter and much farther between. They should be rare, and right now, they are not.

Advanced technology – even AI – requires highly-trained individuals who know how to work with the technology and how to work without it.

While we can’t expect technology to work fully 100% of the time, we can and must expect and demand OUC as a dispatch center to work 100% of the time. That is, when the technology is down, the system needs to work seamlessly. And those who call OUC when the system is down, shouldn’t even notice a difference.

Which is to say: I am very eager today to get at the technology issues facing OUC, and not lose sight of the fact that systemic issues at OUC continue to stand in the way of providing the life-saving response residents and visitors to the District have a right to expect.

Today I will be asking three things of our government witnesses:

• What is being done to make the technology work better and break less;
• What is being done to ensure that OUC will function when the technology is down; and
• What is OUC doing to address the systemic issues that have plagued the agency literally for decades – issues beyond just technology, and which are vital to the safety of our residents and visitors.

I want to thank Director McGaffin and Chief Technology Officer Miller for their efforts at their agencies and for being here with us today to respond to our questions. I look forward to hearing from them and from our public witnesses. Thank you.