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San Francisco officials outline staffing, technology push to speed 911 response
Summary
City officials told the Fire Commission on May 24 that 911 call volume has risen roughly 36% in recent years and that a mix of hires, training changes and new dispatch technology should restore targeted service levels by late 2018 or earlier.
San Francisco officials told the Fire Commission on May 24 that a sustained rise in 911 calls and an unusual spike in staff separations have driven down call-answer performance and forced heavy reliance on overtime, and outlined a plan using additional hires, revised training and new computer-aided dispatch tools to restore service standards.
Rob Smuts, deputy director at the Department of Emergency Management, said the center has seen a roughly 362037 percent increase in overall call volume over the last five to six years, from about 2,400252,500 calls per day to roughly 3,400233,600. He said slightly more than half of those calls are true 911 emergencies and the rest are nonemergency police or service calls.
"We have seen about a 36, 37 percent increase in call volume in the last five or six years," Smuts said during a presentation to the commission. He added that the center also experienced a spike in separations, noting 17 non-probationary departures last year versus an expected 7 to 8.
Smuts described the…
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