BSO could be cut from 911 services
Memos: Sheriff ’s Office, Broward could sever ties as early as January
The relationship between Broward County and the Sheriff ’s Office over the regional 911 system reached a new level of discord Friday.
Internal memos obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel show an imminent threat to sever ties by the end of the year.
The 911 emergency centers are managed by the county but staffed and operated by the Sheriff ’s Office. The system has been beset with problems, from technological gaps to staffing issues that cause delays when callers try to get through to a 911 operator.
County Mayor Lamar Fisher confirmed Friday that now the County Commission could be tasked with deciding “whether it should take the entire center over, including the call center.”
“The board is going to consider all options,” he said.
County records show that County Administrator Monica Cepero sent a memo to Sheriff Gregory Tony on Dec. 13 with a new agreement for him to sign that extended his agency’s contract for three months, through March 31, 2023.
But his response, on Tuesday, wasn’t what she anticipated.
Tony responded that the county’s current technology falls short and the current division of duties — the county owning the system but his agency running it — “is inefficient and obsolete.” He reminds Cepero that multiple agencies, including the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission and multiple fire and police chiefs associations, have recommended 911 be under his authority alone.
He told Cepero he’d sign the contract “if and only if” the county makes changes identified in a consultant’s report in the first quarter of 2023, otherwise the agency “will invoice the county the actual costs of such services on a
monthly basis.”
Michael Ruiz, the county’s assistant county administrator, said Friday that Tony “seems to be suggesting” there’s a difference between the contracted dollar amount that the county pays in its budget and the actual costs of services. But county leaders say they are already paying the full bill, including millions of dollars recently approved for salary increases.
He said it is not possible to meet the sheriff ’s demands for all technology fixes early next year: “Some of those are not going to be finished in that time frame” and the county can “not safely accelerate everything. Some may be done in the first quarter, but if it’s second or third or fourth quarter, that’s what we’re going to do.”
“It takes a certain amount of time,” he said, and one of the reasons for delays could be supply chain issues for equipment that have gripped all industries, including those that impact public safety.
A county spokesman Friday said they would “stay in our lane” and not try to interpret what specific changes Tony was seeking. A spokeswoman for the Sheriff ’s Office did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
County Commissioner Mark Bogen, who has previously argued that the county ought to find a new 911 provider, said the county is trying to get everything done as soon as possible.
“Isn’t what matters here: ‘Is the public protected?’” he said. “Whoever is running it has to provide excellent performance. If they can’t provide excellent performance they’ve got to go.”
A draft of that consultant’s report, known as the Fitch report, recently concluded more needs to be done for speed and accuracy when answering 911 calls and dispatching law enforcement and firefighters. Among the observations: “Carefully adjust staffing levels” so it can answer 90% of the 911 calls within 15 seconds; reconfigure existing technology to automatically call back 911 callers who hang up; and use existing technology to get a more accurate location of a caller.”
County officials have argued they’ve already committed to making the recommended changes.
In response to Tony’s memo where he declined to sign, Cepero emailed county employees and elected officials Thursday night, telling them if the contract wasn’t signed before midnight on New Year’s Eve, the county “will assume” the Sheriff ’s Office has terminated the contract “and Broward County will then commence transitioning operational responsibility of the call taking and dispatch functions back to the county.”
That could take at least six months, during which time the Sheriff ’s Office “is contractually and ethically bound to continue providing service in the interim.”
“It is unfortunate that we find ourselves at this juncture, given the good will and collaborative and communicative spirit the Board has expressed during the recent E-911 discussions,” she wrote in her email. “However, the safety and security of our community are too important to put at risk.”
If the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t cooperate then the county “will immediately shoulder the responsibility that BSO has chosen to abdicate,” and the issue will be discussed at the County Commission’s next public meeting on Jan. 24.
The woes at the 911 call centers have dogged county leaders for most of the year; a South Florida Sun Sentinel investigation in the spring detailed how the agency couldn’t fill empty positions — or even keep the 911 call-takers they already have — which has meant sometimes dire outcomes for Broward residents calling for help during their emergencies.
Among the problems uncovered: There were thousands of unanswered 911 calls, and among the desperate callers who never connected with the help they needed were a family whose baby died and a woman whose house was destroyed in a fire. And 911 centers have been so understaffed that workers routinely log outlandishly long overtime shifts — enough extra work that many were able to double or triple their regular pay.