NYC Mayor Announces Completion of 911 System Overhaul

[x635 4,066]

NYC Mayor Announces Completion of 911 Overhaul

Posted: 06 Jan 2012 04:29 PM PST

In a press conference yesterday New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced completion of major improvements to the city’s 911 and public safety radio systems, and said the city is now at work on a back-up facility for the communications center to ensure total reliability. “We now have all of the City’s emergency response agencies in one place and on the same system,” Bloomberg told reporters, “with state-of-the-art technology that can handle the large number of calls we see during big emergencies,” Bloomberg said. He appeared at the city’s MetroTech Center public safety answering point (PSAP) to say that 911 calls are now answered within 10 seconds 98 percent of the time, and the VESTA telephone system has been tested to handle up to 50,000 calls per hour, about 40 times the normal volume. The city began the latest upgrade project in 2004 after reviewing operations during the September 11th terrorist attacks. The back-up center in the Bronx should be completed in 2015, Bloomberg said, and will be able to fully support dispatching functions.

PDF Press Release: http://pdf.911dispatch.com.s3.amazonaws.com/nyc_911_overhaul_pr.pdf

[ny10570 745]

At what point do you go from a rosy view to out right liar?? I'll let some of our members who are actually dispatchers chime in, but everywhere I look members of all three agencies assigned are slamming the PSAP as at best incomplete and at worst a massive step back from where we were 10 years ago. At the very least his VEST comment is horribly misleading. Yeah, VESTA is intended to handle 50k calls, but its not even online yet! The VESTA screen is blank.

I can run the NYC marathon in 2 hrs 30 minutes. I mean I haven't done it, but I can run a 6 minute mile, so that means I'm ready to go, right?

[x635 4,066]

So, how does FDNY dispatching work now?

Are NYPD Calltakers trained in EMD, EFD, or EPD?

Who is the duty supervisor for each shift?

Why hasn't NYC adopted communications standards set in other major cities?

[nfd2004 750]

At what point do you go from a rosy view to out right liar?? I'll let some of our members who are actually dispatchers chime in, but everywhere I look members of all three agencies assigned are slamming the PSAP as at best incomplete and at worst a massive step back from where we were 10 years ago. At the very least his VEST comment is horribly misleading. Yeah, VESTA is intended to handle 50k calls, but its not even online yet! The VESTA screen is blank.

I can run the NYC marathon in 2 hrs 30 minutes. I mean I haven't done it, but I can run a 6 minute mile, so that means I'm ready to go, right?

From what I have heard and read, most people involved seem to agree with you.

[M' Ave 1,466]

So, how does FDNY dispatching work now?

Are NYPD Calltakers trained in EMD, EFD, or EPD?

Who is the duty supervisor for each shift?

Why hasn't NYC adopted communications standards set in other major cities?

Technically, the call-takers are not NYPD. They're independent of any agency, but in reality they fall under NYPD's umbrella. They answer the call and begin to take your information. Once it becomes apparent who the neccesary agency is, a dispatcher from that agency is conferenced in. To the best of my knowledge, the call-takers are not EMD. From the looks of the information they input, they don't even have a GED. Sorry, but it's pretty bad.

This system hasn't helped a thing except the bottom line, which we all know is the only important line to this mayor. Response times are in fact UP! The clock still starts when FDNY is given the call, but now all of the address and emergency information has been retrieved before the clock started. The clock should start when the phone is answered, but it's not. UCT time is not factored into overall response time.

This is a lesson in how to achieve what you want without actually doing it. The anwser? Just change the rules to suit your needs.

[JBE 328]

So, how does FDNY dispatching work now?

Are NYPD Calltakers trained in EMD, EFD, or EPD?

Who is the duty supervisor for each shift?

Why hasn't NYC adopted communications standards set in other major cities?

Technically, the call-takers are not NYPD. They're independent of any agency, but in reality they fall under NYPD's umbrella.

Sorry, M, they are NYPD. Civilian employees of NYPD.

FDNY Dispatching is a little different now, but that is because of UCT. That's the program where NYPD Calltakers are handling Fire Calls. They take the call, get the information, and enter it into the CAD. The CAD link sends it to us, and we act on it with the mostly half cocked information we get. The NYPD UCT then conference calls the caller into us, and the FDNY Alarm Receipt Dispatcher then re-interrogates the caller. This is where we find out where most of the errors are. The NYPD calltakers are not trained in EMD. When an EMS run comes in, they conference to EMS and the EMS folks triage the call, etc.

Please understand, that even though we are all on the same floor at 11MT, the command structure is separate. PD has their own chain of command, from the Platoon commander, to Principal Police Communications Technicians, to the Supervisors, to the Dispatcher/Operators. In my Chain, we have one Chief Dispatcher(Civilian) on duty 24/7, then 3-5 Supervising Dispatchers, (1 for each borough and 1 or 2 surplus), then 17 Dispatchers total in the three boroughs. As far as EMS goes, there is at least one Captain on duty, with three or four Lieutenants, and then however many dispatchers they have working.

Now, I'm not sure what kind of standards you're talking about. If you mean APCO, and all those national standards, forget it. Come on, this is New York City, where things are done our way. The job doesn't want to pay us overtime as it is, much less bring someone in to get us certified. They actually gave an award to one of my big bosses at Metrotech for controlling the overtime(meaning cutting it). And discovering Dispatch Anamolies, as they put it. You know that means detecting our screw ups and writing people up for it.

Edited January 11, 2012 by JBE

[grumpyff 1,159]

Plain and simple our system sucks.

JBE, of course promotions are made by saving money. Who cares if the job is being done correctly, just no overtime, and develop a rubric that shows our system is working to save money and be quicker. Every day on the PD side we deal with this as well. Wrong information, wrong locations, important info such as descriptions and weapons involved left out, jobs described as being in the past that are less than 10 minutes old, others as put in as in progress that are an hour old. As long as Emperor Bloomberg looks good and his cronies make money off these BS cost savings programs, that is all that matters. The Emperor must look good no matter how much they have change the way things are graded.

[M' Ave 1,466]

Sorry, M, they are NYPD. Civilian employees of NYPD.

I stand corrected. However, while I know they fall under the auspices of NYPD, they are mostly new hires, no? That is to say, these aren't the police call takers now handling a new role, is it? Or are these the very same NYPD call takers as prior to UCT?

[ny10570 745]

They system is ridiculous. Bloomy was right, there is no reason to have 3 different call takers depending on your complaint. To give that job to the people with the least training and lowest compensation is his mistake. The FDNY ARD probably has the hardest job of the three agencies. EMD is simple enough and I'm pretty sure anything would be an upgrade from the PD CRO's. Hire more FAD's and have them handle the calls. Between efficiency and accuracy improvements I bet its a substantial cost savings over the system in place now. As an added bonus more accurate dispatching might actually save a life or two.

[PC_420 28]

So odd but really not... From a city 8 million strong to the county I work as a dispatcher of 113,000 strong... its all the same

But I will add this.. after 8+ years of dispatching, APCO is a waste of time and didn't change anything other than getting comm centers to pay money to say we were certified in something... and EMD is the biggest waste of time in EMS dispatch history. Except in cases of CPR and choking, the questions asked for EMD are just a waste time and do not affect at all how EMS will work a scene... this I know from being on both sides of the radio

While I would like to continue, since it is so rare to see a communications topic get so much response, I would like to keep my job, and TPTB don't like dissent from those who actually know........ but such is the burden of knowing there is better, and sometimes everything new, doesn't always mean its better

[Goose 188]

So odd but really not... From a city 8 million strong to the county I work as a dispatcher of 113,000 strong... its all the same

But I will add this.. after 8+ years of dispatching, APCO is a waste of time and didn't change anything other than getting comm centers to pay money to say we were certified in something... and EMD is the biggest waste of time in EMS dispatch history. Except in cases of CPR and choking, the questions asked for EMD are just a waste time and do not affect at all how EMS will work a scene... this I know from being on both sides of the radio

While I would like to continue, since it is so rare to see a communications topic get so much response, I would like to keep my job, and TPTB don't like dissent from those who actually know........ but such is the burden of knowing there is better, and sometimes everything new, doesn't always mean its better

At least EMD gives the responding EMS units a semblance of an idea of what they are responding to. While it, like everything else in life, is not 100% i like knowing I'm going to a seizure/cardiac/chest pain/etc as oppose to a PD dispatched "transport" or "aided case." Additionally, it can help keep often scarce resources - i.e. the medics - off some of the nonsense....if the system allows for that.

Thats why i always liked the FDNY EMS MDT system...seemed to give the units a nice chunk of info regarding call nature, act as a reference so no one needs to 10-5 the address or apartment #, and keeps radio traffic to a minimum. Oh well!

Edited January 13, 2012 by Goose

[ny10570 745]

The MDT system is really valuable, as is the secondary interview. There is often other stuff we can glean from the text that gets over looked by CROs and dispatchers who have a fraction of the time to process the info. Simple things like comparing a call location to the Ani Ali or cell tower location make a big difference.

I've come across two big problems with most EMD systems. The first is they're put in place and then never updated. Calls that are upgraded should be flagged for review and if the algorithm was followed correctly maybe there are changes that can improve the system's accuracy. My second problem is really just specific to NYC. We never address the specificity of our system. They update the procedures periodically to ensure calls are not being under triaged, yet they do nothing to address the over triage of calls. Thats not entirely accurate, as they have recently stopped documenting the over triage of calls. So they solved that problem.

[JBE 328]

I stand corrected. However, while I know they fall under the auspices of NYPD, they are mostly new hires, no? That is to say, these aren't the police call takers now handling a new role, is it? Or are these the very same NYPD call takers as prior to UCT?

They are the same folks. They received a few hours of training in taking fire calls, whereas my guys have a month of training to take fire calls. I don't necessarily think the FDNY ARD has the hardest job out of all of us. I've observed the NYPD ACD's and the EMS ARD's. I'd say it's about equal, just different circumstances. One very simple solution, but would add time to alarm processing, is, this is 911, press 1 for the Police, 2 for the FDNY, or 3 for EMS. Another idea, that will never happen, is give the FDNY its own 3 digit number. 211, 811, whatever. PS, we just hired 13 or 14 new people on my side. So there goes any overtime that was available for the FAD's. I can't remember the last time PD hired anyone. Maybe 8 or 9 months ago.

I almost forgot, the Mayor is lying when he says that you only have to talk to one person. UCT has been conference calling back into FDNY since November of '09 when they fat fingered an alarm in Queens, and the error may have led to the death of two fellas in the basement of a house in Woodside. They put in 62 Street, and the fire was on 65 Street. The system hasn't really changed. We're just now proofreading the calls to make sure PD isn't screwing it up. We get so many incidents over the course of a tour where the comment from UCT says Previous Incident Address: XXXXXX because they don't properly interrogate a caller. They are also told to take the call at face value and not pry. The UCT folks don't have the leeway that the FDNY Dispatchers do.

One for instance, the caller was obviously a Spanish Speaker primarily, and gave the UCT 168 West Broadway. The UCT calltaker, who had a very thick Indian accent, didn't properly interrogate the caller, so the box went out for 168 West Broadway. I'm more than sure the caller was saying 168 West, Y Broadway. It was difficult to understand either person, but the fire was at West 168 and Broadway. Engine 7 pulls up to 168 West Broadway, looking for a caller, while the 13th Battalion put all hands to work for a fire in a Starbucks. You guys really don't want me going on. The bottom line is, the system needed to be tweaked with the call taking, not a complete overhaul.

Edited January 13, 2012 by JBE

[JBE 328]

Oh yeah, just to add, we've had two fires in the equipment at PSAC at 11MT. The most recent was a few hours ago. How's that new system working out for you, Mr. Mayor??Both were on the FDNY side in the VESTA computers.

Edited January 14, 2012 by JBE

[everybodygoes 331]

Go hang out in front of Metro Tech, you will wonder why you had to show ID when the perps out front are smoking their newports and cackling like hyenas.

[Posa 103 2]

As a fireman for 16 years in the FDNY....the old system worked much better....our Boro CO talking to the people actually reporting the fire, and relaying the info to us. The dispatchers were top notch, knew what we needed to know, knew how we operate, and it worked great! I don't understand this obsessive need to constantly re-invent the wheel? Why cant it simply be...."geez...the prior generation really came up with a good system that works well".....this constant need to change everything is made many things worse off!! Bloomburg and company...LEAVE THINGS ALONE! You are not as smart as you think you are!

[JBE 328]

Go hang out in front of Metro Tech, you will wonder why you had to show ID when the perps out front are smoking their newports and cackling like hyenas.

We ALL have to show ID. Come looking for me, I'm usually down there too. Cursing this building to High Heaven.