Abandoned 911 calls blamed on shortages
There were about 25,000 more abandoned 911 emergency calls in 2023 than in the previous two years, despite the total number of 911 calls remaining about the same, according to an open records request obtained by the Savannah Morning News.
Abandoned calls are those calls not answered or where the caller hung up waiting for a dispatcher to answer.
In 2021, there were a total of 307,271 911 calls to the Chatham County 911 Center; 70,414 of which were classified as abandoned 911 calls.
In 2022, there were 307,122 total 911 calls, of which 69,649 were abandoned.
In 2023, 95,584 of the 307,645 total 911 calls were abandoned — a 37.2% increase after the call center moved to a state-of-the-art computer-aided dispatch system in October 2023.
In an interview, Chatham 911 Communications Director Diane Pinckney, a 38-year veteran of the department, largely attributed the increased abandoned call rate to the following factors:
h Call takers are tied up on other calls, or more than one are involved in providing pre-arrival instructions; h Staffing shortages; h High-volume periods that exacerbate staffing shortages; and
h Public emergencies where multiple people are calling in at the same time.
Pinckney also said that the move in 2023 to a new phone system came with a more detailed analytics package that allows the department to track abandoned calls and other statistics better. There also was a technical issue with the old phone system before the implementation of the new CAD system that could have dropped
calls.
“In order for me to know exactly what happened during each time that we had a call come in that was not answered, I would have to know what's going on in the center at the time,” said Pinckney. “It may be called [call surges]. It may be staffing, or both.
“It just depends on what's going on. I know that sounds somewhat vague. But without me actually being in the center when the calls are coming in, I can't speak to every time we have a surge or every time we are short in the communication center.”
The staffing levels at Chatham 911 have remained mostly consistent from 2021 through 2024, according to the same open records request. As of Jan. 1, 2021, Chatham 911 employed 88 out of 104 staff positions. As of Jan. 1, 2022, there were 75 out of 105 staff positions filled. As of Jan. 1, 2023, there were 78 out of 106 staff position filled. As of Jan. 10 of this year, 83 of 106 staff positions were occupied.
A review of the most recent statistics comes as Chatham 911 faces increasing scrutiny.
During a Board of County Commissioners workshop in mid-January, commissioners brought forth complaints from residents about 911, including unanswered calls, long wait times for ambulance dispatches and complaints about lack of attention and urgency by emergency medical technicians. The workshop also revealed that staffing shortages coupled with a high number of calls from both residents and tourists, some that are not emergencies, has hampered Chatham 911's efficacy and efficiency.
Some hiccups with transition from old to new technology
When a person calls 911, a call-taker will ask where the caller is located and the nature of their complaint. Once a valid address and complaint type have been entered in CAD, the call is placed in the pending queue to be dispatched.
The dispatcher uses pre-built response plans in CAD to then recommend the most appropriate available unit to respond to the call. During caller interrogation, information flows from ProQA to CAD so the dispatcher can provide updates to the call after it has been initially dispatched.
Call prioritization is completed by the local law enforcement agencies, which has worked with each other to agree on how priorities are set by call type.
When Chatham 911 launched the new CAD system last October, interconnectivity improved considerably, according to Chatham 911 Deputy Director Russ Palmer. "Previously, 911 and EMS dispatch were on two separate CAD systems. This new system allows information to be exchanged between the two locations in real time through CAD. Additionally, every municipality we dispatch for has been provided access to Mobile CAD to enhance their capabilities from the field.”
There were hiccups with the transition from old to new technologies, however.
One week before the CAD system was updated in October 2023, the servers on Chatham 911 phone system crashed, said Palmer. The server that crashed was where the automatic abandoned callback feature was.
“But when that automatic callback feature went down, it was calling hundreds of people a day back, and then just putting them back in the queue,” Palmer explained. “So, we actually had to physically unplug that ability for it to make an outbound phone call, because it was calling the same couple of 100 people for days on end.”
That bug was quickly resolved by AT&T, said Palmer. Additionally, the CAD system was plagued by “server stability issues,” said Palmer. That is being worked on by a team from the vendor and county staff, added Palmer.
“That's probably been the two biggest challenges that we've had technology-wise other than bringing in an entire new CAD system with the three suites of police-fire-medical protocols, all at one time combining dispatch centers, 28 agencies, into one system. So, just working through all that as well. We're doing pretty good,” said Palmer.
Pinckney added that some of the early issues consisted of understanding codes and how the flow of information was supposed to work.
“As we become more proficient at [the new CAD system], we're not seeing a lot of the issues we were seeing early on, when we first implemented, we're not seeing a lot of those problems," she said. “All of those things that you wouldn't know until you started using the system, you know, things that you didn't may not have anticipated."
Finding qualified candidates remains a challenge
Achieving full staffing continues to be an issue, added Palmer. Last quarter, 208 people applied for open positions at Chatham 911 — 195 of which either did not show up to an interview, for a critical test, or did not pass the background check.
“That's our biggest challenge,” said Palmer. “We get applicants.”
Since the county commission workshop, Pinckney said that they have sent out newsletters to employees and held weekly meetings to address issues raised.
“I think making sure that we have communication or all around with all the stakeholders that use the system is key to make sure that we enhance our operation as much as we can,” said Pinckney.
The county is also working on implementing a “Next Generation 911 Technology,” new technology that will allow first responders to pinpoint a 911 caller's more precise location, especially when using a cell phone. Chatham 911 is in the contractual phase of that project, with a target for commission approval in March.
Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.