By Tanya Eiserer
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2007 The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS, Texas — Records show that questionable work by Dallas 911 call-takers has continued - with possible life-threatening consequences - since The Dallas Morning News published a story on the troubled system in May 2006:
- On July 16, a caller reported that a man ran a red light and nearly hit her vehicle. The caller wanted the police to come to a Shell station in northwest Dallas to give the man a traffic citation. “I’m sending them as fast as I can,” the operator told the caller.
By state law, police officers cannot issue a traffic citation for running a red light without having seen it themselves. Police went to the scene and were there for about 45 minutes. “When they insist [that police respond], we send them,” said Kenneth Moore, manager of administration and technology for the call center.
“The police are the ones that go out there and explain this is not a police matter if that’s the case.”
- On July 31, a caller told a 911 operator that a violent man had hit her with a Frisbee, was trying to break into her home and had been stalking her. The caller told the operator that the man was diabetic and may be having a medical problem. “Our lives are at stake right now. I’m going to stay on the phone with you until they get here,” the caller said.
The 911 operator told the caller that she couldn’t remain on the phone until police arrived because she had other calls. The operator contacted police dispatch and also told a fire dispatcher that an ambulance needed to be sent.
But the operator then told the fire dispatcher that the caller refused to stay on the phone. “I told her to let me connect you, but you know how they are,” the call-taker is heard saying on a recording of her call to the fire dispatcher.
Mr. Moore said the operator should have immediately asked the caller if she wanted an ambulance. The operator should have also asked the caller for the man’s name because she clearly knew him.
“When she said she wanted ... [the operator] to stay on the line, she should have stayed on the line,” Mr. Moore said. “We’re going to take disciplinary action against the call-taker.”
- On Nov. 21, a caller told a 911 operator that a man had kicked in a door and taken a woman. The caller told the operator that the man was about to take the woman away in a car.
The call-taker failed to notify police about the possible kidnapping and told the caller that she could not send help because the caller did not have the license plate number of the car.
The call-taker, who was new to the job and still on probation, was subsequently fired. A fire spokesman has previously described the 911 call as an example of “poor customer service.”