City officials outline plan to restructure 911 call types and detail how police spend their time

Portland city staff and police officials on Tuesday presented data on how emergency calls move through the Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) and how much of Portland Police Bureau (PPB) time those calls consume, and outlined a multiagency project to revise the city's call-type categories.

The presentation, given to the Community and Public Safety Committee, described a July 2024 project to 'restructure' about 25 existing 911 call types with the goals of sending 'the right responder to the right call,' reducing unnecessary police responses and updating dispatch protocols. Nick McDonald, the performance analyst leading the project, said the team will seek stakeholder agreement before sending recommendations to bureau leaders and the council.

'We began in June 2024,' McDonald said, and are developing a decision-making framework and an implementation plan that includes new call-type definitions, dispatch criteria and performance metrics. He told the committee the group hopes to present preliminary recommendations to bureau leads in May and 'rapidly wrap up' the project by March of next year, subject to stakeholder review.

BOEC Director Bob Causey and Deputy Director Steve Maudsley described how 911, nonemergency and monitored alarm calls are processed, and gave examples of four frequent call types: disturbance, suspicious person, unwanted person and welfare checks. Maudsley walked the committee through recent cases to show how a single incident can change in priority as new information arrives.

'When a call is dispatchable by BOEC, the instant nature of the incident will result in a call type and priority that will either be an immediate dispatch by radio or a nonemergent self-dispatch,' Maudsley said, explaining that details such as whether a subject is still on scene shape how quickly officers are sent.

PPB leaders said the bureau spends most of its field time responding to dispatch calls. Deputy Chief Chris Jovic told the committee that BOEC-originated dispatches account for roughly three-quarters of the time officers spend on calls, citing internal slides that read 74% and 77% at different points in the presentation. He and Chief Bob Day emphasized that the originally dispatched call type often differs from what officers find once they arrive.

'Often officers arrive on scene and find something completely different than the call that was initiated,' Jovic said, noting that call-type labels reflect the initial dispatch rather than the ultimate investigative outcome.

Officials identified several areas the restructuring group is exploring. McDonald and other staff said the city is reviewing whether police must continue to attend every medically unattended death until the medical examiner arrives, whether repeated false burglar alarms should trigger more fines or nonresponse, and whether some welfare checks or 'unwanted person' calls could be routed to Portland Street Response or medical teams when there is no indication of violence.

'There are certain call elements that need to be routed to PPB, but some that we suspect might be possible to reroute,' McDonald told the committee. Causey invited council members to observe operations at BOEC to better understand dispatch decisions: 'I'd like to invite each of you to come into BOEC' for a sit-along' — 'I think that would be really eye-opening,' he said.

PPB also presented top call types by time spent, with disturbance calls, traffic and suspicious-person calls among those consuming the most officer hours. Jovic and Chief Day described administrative and nonresponse duties — reports, evidence processing, court appearances and training — that also take substantial staff time and reduce patrol availability.

Committee members pressed officials about implementation risks, labor and legal review, and potential public education needs if call categories change. McDonald said the restructure will require consultation with the city attorney, BHR, labor relations and partner agencies and that a public education campaign will be part of any significant change.

City and bureau staff said the next steps are stakeholder meetings, production of recommended changes and development of implementation protocols and metrics. No formal policy decisions were made at Tuesday's committee meeting; staff sought feedback and said they will return with recommendations after consultation.