Supervisors press 911 and police on language access after Good Orchard Bakery delay

San Francisco supervisors and community advocates on Thursday pressed the Department of Emergency Management and the Police Department to explain a breakdown in language-access and response that followed a Jan. 19 robbery at Good Orchard Bakery in District 11.

Supervisor Asha Safaie, who cosponsored the hearing, said the bakery owner (who asked not to be identified) was assaulted and called 911 but, despite asking for a Chinese interpreter, waited hours for responders. "An interpreter was handed over, but a DEM staffer was not available at the time," Safaie said, adding that the delay — which she described as more than four hours — had eroded trust in emergency services among monolingual immigrant communities.

The context: the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) said its combined public-safety dispatch center handles roughly 1.3 million calls a year — about 3,800 calls a day — and that about 1.4 percent of those calls (roughly 1,800 annually) require interpretation. DEM Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll apologized for the Good Orchard experience and described the city’s interpretation approach: a mix of certified bilingual dispatchers (now about 20–25% of dispatch staff) and state-provided on-demand telephonic interpretation. "We at DEM regret if anyone has had a negative experience calling 911 in any language," Carroll said.

DEM officials said the city switched providers several years ago to add capacity and priority handling for 911 interpretation; the vendor identified in testimony was Voyance. The department said Voyance provides specialized 9-1-1 interpreter training and that the state pays for the on-demand telephonic service used by dispatchers.

SFPD commanders described departmental policy and recent steps to prioritize limited-English-proficiency calls. Commander Daryl Fong said the department has expanded community outreach — bilingual drop-in centers and foot-beat officers in merchant corridors — and piloted a video-interpretation app on officers’ department phones to facilitate face-to-face interpretation. The department also is reviewing how incidents are coded and prioritized: SFPD and DEM use a four-tier priority system (A, B, C, I) that affects dispatch and travel-time expectations.

On response times, officials said an "A" priority — present or imminent danger to life — typically results in a 4–6 minute arrival on average citywide. A "B" priority, which may include crimes not in progress, averages about 16–17 minutes. DEM and SFPD said they are jointly reassessing when a call should remain an A priority and when it may be downgraded, particularly in cases where the presence of injury or threat may not have been relayed clearly.

Community groups pressed for stronger enforcement of the San Francisco Language Access Ordinance, more bilingual hiring across city departments and better public education in multiple languages about when to call 911 versus nonemergency lines. "Language access is core to upholding sanctuary values and ensuring that San Francisco remains a welcoming city for all," said Annette Wong of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

What’s next: DEM and SFPD told the committee they have already begun operational changes — roll-call trainings, active dispatch supervision to catch “hanging” calls, and a new tool for tracking bilingual calls — and that they are working with the Controller’s Office to produce better data on response times, including the ability to segment calls that required interpretation. Supervisors requested follow-up data and pledged continued oversight and community engagement.

The committee filed the hearing without objection and asked the departments to return with follow-up reports and data to show changes in coding, dispatch practice and language-access outcomes.