New HEC problems: poor training or "productivity policy" fallout?
Yesterday KHOU-11 reported the story of a woman who called 911, but couldn't get the help she was seeking:
Pamela Gray was headed home in her car at night when she looked in the rear view mirror, saw the problem and made the call for help. " The people behind me were actually pulled out of the car and they were actually beating their heads against the car, and that's when I was rear ended," she says.
Frightened, she called 911, but the emergency operator said help would not be coming unless she stopped. Gray to the 911 operator: "But now they're chasing me, wanting me to stop and I'm scared and I don't want to stop. I'm a single female in the car and it's these guys who were in a fight behind me. I don't know what to do."
911 operator: "Okay, if you want me to send you an officer you're gonna have to pull over and stop."
Today's Chronicle continues the story:
Gray came through that nightmarish June 4 experience unharmed, but was so stunned by the handling of her plea for help that she went to KHOU (Channel 11). Councilman Mark Ellis demanded answers from the Houston Emergency Center, which responded by revising some of its operating procedures.
[snip]
The call-taker will not be disciplined, said HEC spokesman Joe Laud, because an internal investigation concluded that the call was properly handled, based on her belief that Houston Police Department policy forbade dispatching officers to moving complainants.
But Houston police Capt. Dwayne Ready said there is no such policy.
"We have dispatched to moving targets before," he said Thursday. "We even have a call code for road rage, so officers can find you on the road."
Ellis said officers told him that police are dispatched in such cases "all the time."
"I think they probably can't discipline (the call-taker) because there was nothing in their operating procedures addressing it," Ellis said. "I certainly think a little common sense would have gone a long way."
HEC doesn't address road rage incidents in its operating procedures? What else is missing in HEC's operating procedures? Will someone have to be injured or killed before we find out?
[...]the call-taker never told police dispatchers about Gray's call, said Capt. Ready.
Had dispatchers been notified, Ready said, the call probably would have been given to a supervisor who could stay on the line with Gray until a police officer could find her.
"Common sense has to prevail," Ready said. "If someone says, 'I witnessed a crime, and now they're following me,' you don't tell them, 'Call us back after they catch up with you and kill you.' "
Unbelievable.
Also, KTRK-13 has the story of another 911 call that didn't go as it should have:
Houston's 911 dispatch center has disciplined five employees. It's all related to one disturbance in the Clear Lake area that happened three weeks ago. Despite numerous calls, no help arrived for almost an hour. Investigators say the blame falls on the dispatchers.
Is the problem poor training or HEC's "productivity policy"?
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 06/24/05 08:21 AM | Print | Comments (0)
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