ST. LOUIS — St. Louis proposed plans to merge its various dispatch centers under one roof on Friday to improve the ongoing problems with the city's 911 service.
St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley proposed Board Bill 120 and, in that bill, it would help create a Public Safety Answering Point, known as PSAP.
This would consolidate the city's EMS, fire and police dispatch centers, which are currently separated.
Fire and EMS dispatchers are in one building at the St. Louis Fire Department Headquarters at Jefferson and Cass Avenues. The police dispatchers are at the St. Louis Police Department Headquarters in downtown St. Louis.
St. Louis city's original goal was to merge all three dispatch centers, police, fire and EMS, by October 2021.
However, that plan is still in the works.
The problems
Some complaints to 5 On Your Side about the 911 system have been the long wait times.
5 On Your Side asked for the latest numbers from St. Louis police department but we are still waiting.
Here are the current ones we have:
A national standard to answer 90% of the calls in ten seconds.
As of February 2022, 68.17% of St. Louis' 911 calls were answered in that time frame.
Here's a monthly breakdown for its grade service of answering calls within ten seconds since September 2021:
- September – 51.19%
- October – 55.62%
- November – 62.71%
- December – 59.39%
- January – 66.01%
Staffing issues and pay are both problems as well.
The three types of dispatchers make different salaries and belong to different unions. However, more recent complaints are talking about the lack of help.
One viewer reached out and said their niece left a Blue's game and her car was stolen.
The viewer said they called the police three times asking for help and finally was told by police department that they were not going to send anyone to help them, that nothing would happen to the thieves anyway and they would just have to babysit them all night.
"Is this the normal in St. Louis when the police have a chance to catch car thieves and do nothing?" the viewer asked.
Another couple reached out to 5 On Your Side about their experience.
Last Friday, the Abbotts tied the knot. They say the wedding was picture perfect.
The next day the memories were soon soured by crime.
The maid-of-honor was staying at an Airbnb near IKEA in St. Louis because they were from out-of-town.
"My wife's friend heard this loud 'bang...bang...bang' and locked eyes with a man in a ski mask holding a pistol and trying to break into a tinted Saab that was several parking spots down from there and this was 11 a.m.," Jennifer Abbott said.
That's when they got in the car to get away.
"The men chased them with guns, they were throwing things at them," Ashlynn Abbott, who is Abbott's wife, said.
Jennifer explained, that's when the car pulled up beside them in a lane going the wrong way.
"She thought she was going to get shot and she took off and took a hard right and lost them," Jennifer said.
They said things took another turn when they called police.
"The interaction was that no one was currently in danger, no theft happened, and the people were no longer there that there was nothing they can do," Jennifer said.
No report was made.
However, after the no show, more salt was added to the wound for the Abbotts.
"That night we are driving home and few blocks from home we got rear ended. After waiting for an hour and a half, the cops never showed up," Ashlynn said.
Current Protocols
In response to a media inquiry, St. Louis Police Department said they do have some protocols in place for certain calls.
For context, in 2018, our department implemented the Call Reduction Initiative (CRI). The goal of this program is to efficiently utilize manpower to decrease the number of Calls for Service being dispatched to Officers and Sergeants on patrol. Through the CRI, dispatchers can redirect some calls to the correct agency or agencies to handle it.
Calls can also be handled by Commissioned Call Screeners (CCS) which include police officers working in communications that will handle low priority calls that can generally be resolved over the phone.
These are some types of calls a call screener can handle with a known suspect are listed below, for example:
• citizens requesting information on restraining orders
• city ordinances and general information
• stealing, attempt stealing
• destruction of property
• auto theft
• harassing phone calls
The department also has the Telephone Reporting Unit (TRU) which can also handle the following calls with unknown suspects, for example:
• larceny any dollar amount
• destruction of property
• larceny from hotel rooms
• detached garage burglaries
• stolen guns
• car clotting
Improvements
Improvement efforts are underway.
Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson shared details about the plan to merge the city's emergency services into one place.
"It boils down to money. It would coordinate everyone in one spot it provides a unified command area," he said.
Almost $17 million of COVID-19 relief funds presented by St. Louis Alderman Brandon Bosley could make that happen.
The proposed idea is to put PSAP, which is roughly 17,000 square feet on the west end of the existing City of St. Louis Fire Department Headquarters Facility at Jefferson and Cass to fully integrate Emergency Operations Command (EOC).
$15 million would go to PSAP and $1.6 million would to a new 911 software.
"We have to make the change," Chief Jenkerson said.
The goal is to improve the 911 system's reliability and service.
The Abbott's believe the change couldn't come sooner.
"There's got to be a better way to do things," Jennifer said.
The proposed bill still needs to go through a few more committees before coming to life.
If everything goes as planned, a completion date would be 2026.
"So, what happens until then?" 5 On Your Side asked.
A city spokesperson said a short-term solution is to house the dispatchers together at police headquarters, but that plan is still getting worked out.
The reason for the slowdown is supply chain issues.
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