Problem
Contacts to the 911 emergency line are deluging the police New York City headquarters communications facility. Since more than half of the contacts are not legitimate emergencies, police response times to real emergencies are being slowed. The New York Telephone Company, the mayor’s office, and the police department must discuss how to address this case.
Situation Analysis
At police headquarters, reports concerning non-emergency issues, such as the day’s temperature, the non-functioning water, or a large dog chasing a cat, had been coming in at an exceptionally high rate lately. The 911 system, which combines the fire department, the police, and ambulance service under a single phone number, has been in place for five years. Thousands of city residents apparently disregarded Mayor Lindsay’s request last week not to use 911 unless it was an emergency.
The Origins and Purpose of the 911 System
The judicial system recommended establishing a single emergency number, possibly nationwide, but at the very least within a metropolitan area. Any citizen could call for an immediate response to a crisis by dialing a straightforward, readily recalled string of digits. The sole emergency telephone number throughout the country will be 911, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company announced in January 1968. The 911 concept seemed ideal to the city government and the New York City police department.
It was frequently seen as a magnifying glass, reflecting both the positive and negative aspects of American city life. The New York Telephone Company would create and distribute the marketing message with its advertising agency. However, as criminal activities in the nation and New York City grew, many people called 911. As crime in the nation as a whole, and New York City notably, continued to climb, more and more individuals called 911.
After continuously utilizing technology to meet demand, the police started considering whether a different strategy would be required in 1972. Many individuals associated with 911 believed there had to be a way to reduce the number of non-emergency calls coming into the system. This move would include those the police had never dealt with and were unprepared to handle, such as those from “My cat is stuck in a tree.”
Alternatives to Solve the Problem
- Adopting a three-digit non-emergency number.
- The 911 communications center in New York should use a computer-aided dispatch system.
- Introduce a penalty for non-emergency 911 calls.
Alternatives Evaluation
The New York emergency call center should have the tools to manage emergencies and non-emergency service requests through careful planning, smart growth, enhanced technology purchase, and careful application of the Callback System (Meischke et al., 2018). Local government authorities’ aim to offer better-managed services is the main driver behind developing an alternate three-digit number. Creating a single call center to handle all of the city’s call-taking and dispatching needs (particularly enforcement and emergency 911) means that city services will be provided under two different numbers (Meischke et al., 2018): one for emergency services and the other for non-emergency services. By introducing fines for citizens who call the emergency number without a real emergency, many people will be discouraged from misusing the emergency number. In the long run, the communications center will have more genuine emergencies and fewer non-emergency calls.
Solution
After conversations among the police department, the telecommunications company, and the mayor’s office, it was ultimately agreed that an educational campaign would be required to inform the public of what constituted an emergency and what did not.
Reference
Meischke, H., Lilly, M., Beaton, R., Calhoun, R., Tu, A., Stangenes, S., & Baseman, J. (2018). Protocol: a multi-level intervention program to reduce stress in 9-1-1 telecommunicators. BMC Public Health, 18(1), 1-10.