City council hearing spotlights understaffing, overtime and pay issues for NYC 911 and EMS workers

Council members and city agency officials convened a joint hearing of the New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor (chair Carmen de la Rosa), the Committee on Fire and Emergency Management (chair Joanna Areola) and the Committee on Public Safety (chair Yousef Salaam) to review working conditions for the city’s 911 emergency response workforce, including police communications technicians (PCTs) and FDNY emergency medical services staff.

The hearing opened with council leaders framing the issue as both a labor and public-safety problem. “Today’s hearing is focused on working conditions for our city's 9 1 1 emergency response workers,” Council Member Carmen de la Rosa said, noting that the system receives “over 7,000,000 calls” a year.

Why it matters: Witnesses and callers told the council that chronic understaffing, large numbers of delayed calls, and multi-year stalled contract talks are producing heavy overtime, fatigue and departures from the workforce — conditions they say are reducing service reliability and putting responders and patients at risk.

NYPD and FDNY officials described steps to reduce delays and bolster support services but acknowledged staffing gaps. Assistant Chief Richard Napolitano, speaking for the NYPD, said the department had hired more call-takers and adjusted shift patterns to reduce hold times: “Between January and the September 2024, there were a 189,343 delayed calls. And in the same time period in 2025, there was a 108,421 delayed calls, a 42.7 decrease year to date.” Napolitano also said the department now answers “92% of calls within 5…