A staffing shortage that has sometimes led to unanswered 911 calls at Little Rock's emergency dispatch center is also occurring at many emergency communication centers across the country.
Agencies in Washington, New York, California and Kansas in recent years have reported delayed responses to 911 calls because of staff vacancies. As in Little Rock, which has 20 vacancies in a call center authorized to hire 66 people, the agencies reported difficulty hiring and retaining people to work in a high-stress job that has unconventional hours.
Little Rock's staffing shortage left a suicidal man's friends scrambling to find him help Tuesday afternoon. Pamela Butler said she and others called 911 numerous times over a period of roughly 20 minutes before finally speaking to a dispatcher. City officials said a midday surge in calls Tuesday prevented the short-handed center from immediately answering the call.
Chris Carver, director of public safety answering point operations at the Virginia-based National Emergency Number Association, said Thursday that staff shortages have been a "tremendous problem in many parts of the United States" for many years.
He said low wages and high stress lead to high turnover in such jobs. When an employee quits, it leaves other call takers and dispatchers forced to pick up the slack, which can exhaust them and lead them to quit, as well. By the time the initial vacancies have been filled, Carver said, new vacancies have been created.
"It sort of becomes a never-ending cycle," he said. Departments "are always playing catch-up."
There are more than 6,000 emergency communication centers in the United States.
The difficulties also exist across Arkansas.
In Fort Smith, the state's second-largest city, the call center has two vacancies out of 24 positions, and two recently hired employees undergoing training. Police Sgt. Wes Milam, who supervises the call center, said new hires must complete six months of training.
Milam could not provide data on the number of 911 calls the Fort Smith call center receives, but said he often has to help employees when there's a surge in calls.
"I've jumped on the console many times if there's an influx of calls," he said. "We do the best that we can, and we will answer the phone because public safety is our No. 1 priority."
Earlier this week in Fayetteville, the state's third-largest city, the call center had three vacancies out of 25 positions. City dispatch manager Kathy Stocker said she hired two people Wednesday. She said the call center is "lucky" to receive 10 applications when it has an opening, and even luckier if those applicants can pass required background and skills tests to advance in the hiring process.
"We have the same kind of issues [as Little Rock]," Stocker said. "We've had a lot of turnover and a lot trouble filling vacancies."
The Fayetteville call center has at least three call takers on duty each shift. The number of 911 calls it received last year was about 42,000, according to Stocker. She said if the call volume is too high, some calls will be redirected to law enforcement agencies in the area.
In Jonesboro, the fifth-largest city in Arkansas, the call center currently has no vacancies. Shift supervisor Conni Byler said it employs 27 people, including "a couple" in training.
"We actually just went through a spell where we had a couple spots to fill," she said. "A couple people retired and couple went to work elsewhere."
Byler said the demanding schedule of 911 dispatchers and call takers makes it challenging to find and retain employees.
"It's 24 hours, weekends, holidays -- people sacrifice family time," she said. "Me, personally, I've been a dispatcher for 10 years, and I'm just now off on the weekends."
Milam agreed. "It's a rough job, and few have the calling to do it."
Metro on 01/27/2017