NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Orleans Parish Communication District Executive Interim Director Karl Fasold met with WGNO to explain why it takes so long for some 911 calls for help to reach the New Orleans Police Department on Friday, Oct. 27.
With NOPD response times being a major concern and complaints about long waits, Fasold gave an interactive presentation about the protocols involved in the job. He also admitted that the 911 call response times are not where they would like them to be.
“The ideal response time for us to answer the call is 90% of calls within ten seconds. We are not at that point. We are understaffed. We will get 80% of emergency calls answered in 10 seconds or less,” says Fasold.
Fasold also admits they are working to prioritize calls when multiple calls come in at once.
“People walking down the street pulling on door handles is not as important as a shooting, and we lost the ability to differentiate that within the system. Which left my dispatcher trying to determine that from what’s visible on their screens,” says Fasold.
With each call made, there are steps that the 911 operators and dispatchers must follow before police are sent.
Fasold says that since September of last year, calls related to a domestic situation have been categorized into two types of calls: domestic violence and domestic disturbance.
He understands that this has caused worries for many and is looking for ways to address these concerns.
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