Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the 911 Operations topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee reviews DEC transition and Q3 2024 911 wait-time report; asks for follow-up on abandoned-call spike
Summary
Committee members heard an update on the DEC transition to the unified CAD/CAT system and reviewed Q3 2024 911 performance metrics, which show improvement on NENA standards but also a concerning September spike in abandoned calls.
Committee members received an update on the Department of Emergency Communications (DEC) stand-up and an overview of the Q3 2024 911 wait-time report. Staff indicated the DEC transition to operational control of the unified CAD/CAT (ICAD) system is scheduled to go live Feb. 13, and the committee heard that the new director is in place and staff are confident in the transition timeline.
On performance metrics, committee staff summarized that the DEC and telecommunicators are meeting the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) targets: about 90% of 911 calls answered within 15 seconds and 95% within 20 seconds. Committee members noted significant improvement compared with Q3 2022, when roughly 70% of calls met the 15-second standard; improved staffing, reclassifications and pay increases were cited as contributing factors.
However, committee members asked for follow-up because the report showed a marked spike in abandoned calls in September 2024 (the number of abandoned calls roughly tripled from July to September). The committee also flagged long average wait times for nonemergency administrative calls in July, including a material number of calls that took 10–20 minutes to answer in the administrative queue. Staff said they would provide additional analysis and have analysts follow up on the September abandoned-call increase, and the committee placed the report on file with that understanding (File 241-275 and related communications).
The committee requested that future reports include more analyst-level explanation for anomalous spikes and consider whether callback procedures or other queue-management tools are feasible for long administrative-hold scenarios.
Ending
Staff committed to returning with additional detail on the reasons for the September abandoned-call spike and with an explanation of long administrative-call handling times; the committee placed the 911 report on file pending that follow-up.
