[Commander]

On the night of her second birthday, McKenna Treudler was playing with her father in their Rocky Point living room when she hit her head and was knocked unconscious.Her mother, Keri Treudler, scooped up the limp child while McKenna's father, Chris Treudler, ran to the phone and dialed 911.Keri Treudler, 34, said she remembers that her husband, 36, had the phone to his ear but wasn't talking. "Did you call? Did you call?" she remembers screaming at him.He told her that he had been sent to a recording.According to Suffolk police, it took one minute and 34 seconds for a 911 operator to pick up. It seemed like an eternity to the Treudlers."You call 911 and you get a machine?" Keri Treudler said. "That's just outrageous."

Actually, that June 2 call -- and Saturday's 911 call from a Hicksville murder scene that was placed on hold for 1 minute and 52 seconds -- appear to be anomalies on Long Island.Nassau and Suffolk's performance in answering 911 calls in July fell well within the national standard of 90 percent of calls answered within 10 seconds. Nassau answered 91 percent and Suffolk 95.5 percent within that time frame, according to their own statistics.Three percent of calls in Nassau took 40 seconds or longer to answer. Comparable numbers were not available in Suffolk by deadline.Nassau answered 77,753 calls, and Suffolk 100,036 in July.In the Hicksville case, the daughter of murder victim Meena Kohli called 911 at 11:01 p.m. Saturday after Kohli was stabbed to death and Ritika Hira, the caller's sister, was seriously injured.Hira's estranged husband, Harpal Hira, 33 or 34, is still at large and considered a "person of interest," police said. The family remains under tight police protection, according to police.Police said that between 10:55 and 11:05 p.m. the 911 system answered a larger amount of calls than usual, 31 in total, most of them involving a 17-year-old girl being harassed at the Hicksville train station.

Officials have said such spikes are due mostly to the proliferation of cell phones, where many cell users call in a single incident.Speaking last month about the Treudler case, Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said the recording lets callers know that assistance is on the way. "It's there to help them," he said, adding that he understands the frustration felt by callers put on hold. "When you want a cop or ambulance, you want a cop or ambulance."McKenna Treudler recovered by the time the ambulance arrived.

The union for Suffolk dispatchers has complained that the volume of 911 calls has increased in recent years, but staff has not. Cheryl Felice, president of the Suffolk County Association of Municipal Employees, said the union has asked the county legislature to look at staffing. "Seconds truly save lives," she said.Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has said staffing levels are adequate. Calls to Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi's office were not returned, but Nassau police said that staffing has been stable over the past year.There are no staffing standards, according to Rick Jones of the National Emergency Number Association. Roger Hixson of the same organization said the association recommends that overflow calls go to another dispatch center, but that recording systems are in use all over the country

[uselesskomish]

It is truly a tough dilemma. We want everyone dialing 911, but if it is a fire, the delay could be the difference between life and death.

[660T]

That's why we should encourage resident to dial the departments emergency phone number instead of calling 911 for Fire and Rescue calls.

[MFD594]

Originally Posted by 660T

That's why we should encourage resident to dial the departments emergency phone number instead of calling 911 for Fire and Rescue calls.

True, BUT, in a situations like a stabbing, shooting, domestic, do you want the chief or bus pulling up before an RMP? Especially if the perp is still on scene??

[emt208]

We Dont Want People Caling 911 Because They Didnt Get The Right Subway Sandwhich ( That Stupid Guy In California ) 911 Is For Emergencies Period. A Barking Dog Is Not An Emergency . A Racoon In The Yard Is Not An Emergency , But Grandpa Joe Not Breathing Is An Emergency And 911 Should Be Used . It Is Our Own Fault . Before Ayone Dials 911 They Should All Stop And Think Is This A " True" Emergency.

[VSINDY]

The original "Commander" post of yesterday's Newsday shows that the article suggests that answering times are excellent, but abberations occur. These abberations were attributed to cell phones:

"spikes are due mostly to the proliferation of cell phones, where many cell users call in a single incident".

So a horrific accident on the expressway at rush hour may overwhelm the system to the point where a cardiac victim in Point Lookout can't get through.

Technology brought us this "problem" but technology should be sophisticated enough soon enough, if not now, to solve it.

Automated call distribution systems and Global positioning technology have evolved to the point that a sophsticated ACD should be able to detect a huge number of calls suddenly originating within x number of feet of each other. Those calls could be routed to a queue assigned to "X" number of operators depending on staffing and time of day. The duplicate callers from an expressway accident would then more likely get the recording, while the poor cardiac dude in Point Lookout may get through to a real person immediately.

Just a thought...

[Thunderfoot]

what the Newsday report failed to bring out is at times there could be as few as TWO operators on the answering positions at night....think about it!

[MFD594]

As said, the main fact is that there are now millions of "concerned citizens" with cell phones yet nobody has really increased dispatcher/operator staffing.

The staffing that was adequate 20 years ago will not work today.

Population has increased. Cell phones were mass marketed. Amount of calls/runs has shot up. Yet staffing has even DECREASED in some places.

"Do more with less"- Great in theory, dont cut the mustard when it comes to public safety.

To add insult to injury- where does that 9-1-1 Surcharge on every cell phone bill end up? Apparently not where it was intended to.

Municipalities are in for a rude awakening then next time a hurricane blows through or a radio or computer system fails.

A "summer" t-storm passing through at 5-6pm generates an amazing amount of call volume. You cant have the same amount of people doing 6 times the volume. It just doesnt work. 2 ears & 2 hands.

And, to add a "lil spark"... how many times to calls/runs get "bounced" around between 3-4 diff agencies?? The 45 sec call processing time just tripled because dispatcher #1 now has to call dispatcher #2 who then has to notify dispatcher #3.

[SPIN_THE_WHEEL]

I think the PD #'s for the month include duplicate calls for the same incident, the PD dispatcher has to process everyone, rather then, when they know its the same incident just tell the caller we have this already thank you, and move on to the next phone call.

The 911 opps will transfer in 17 calls for the same car fire on the LIE to the FD. The 911 call takers all work in the same area, I dont know why one call taker cant yell out "Im getting a car fire w/b on the LIE by Lakeville rd." and then the others who answer can just quickly verify and move on.

[Thunderfoot]

True Spin, but then again we have people on our side that sit 2 feet away from the other person and don't realize we have 6 calls on the same incident even after it's been announced to the room. No matter how you work it, there will always be a certain ammount of duplication or comfusion.

[TL345VA]

True Spin,but like Thunder said you could have people sitting 2ft from each other and if they are on the phone or radio they block out almost all background noise. With my agency we try and send a message out on the cad system and that does not always work some call takers block those messages out until they are done with the phone call. And i wish i could yell out Hey i got a accident eb on the the interstate but my center is so big (and will be getting bigger next year ) we have call takers in a different room because we can't fit them all on the operation floor.