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Staffing shortages follow the death of a 5-month-old during a computer system failure
WASHINGTON D.C., DC — There are more signs of trouble at DC's embattled 911 call center. WUSA9 has learned employees are calling out so often that the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) is offering bonuses for showing up to work. This comes just days after the death of a 5-month-old baby who went into cardiac arrest while the agency's computer system failed.
There is a long history of problems at the OUC: crews being sent to wrong addresses, calls being put on hold, and more recent glitches with their computer aided dispatch. When the city's 911 system does not work smoothly, it has a major impact and puts lives in danger. While the agency has not linked the baby's death earlier this month to the CAD system failure, the case remains under investigation. Meanwhile, staffing shortages continue adding to issues at the OUC.
When OUC Director Heather McGaffin testified before a council oversight hearing back in February, she boasted about filling 40 vacancies in her first year on the job.
But six months later, there are more staffing problems. WUSA9 has learned Director McGaffin emailed all OUC employees Tuesday morning August 13th and offered an $800 monthly bonus if they show up to all scheduled shifts.
WUSA9 requested an interview with Director McGaffin and requested details on just how many people are calling out. A spokesperson sent a statement instead, saying in part, "Staffing is crucial to the success of the agency, and we will continue to explore ways to enhance agency performance while being good stewards of District resources."
Read OUC’s full statement:
“The first and most critical part of our 911 system is the committed professionals who work at Office of Unified Communications (OUC). As Director McGaffin has previously shared, a majority of our team at OUC are Washingtonians. They are family members, friends, and neighbors to those who rely on this system each day and we appreciate their dedication to serving our city. We have a busy, demanding system that requires that we regularly evaluate staffing levels to ensure we can always answer the call in a timely fashion while also being mindful of the wellbeing of our dedicated staff. We appreciate how hard our team at OUC are working and will continue to acknowledge and reward those efforts. Staffing is crucial to the success of the agency, and we will continue to explore ways to enhance agency performance while being good stewards of District resources.”
“This is a desperation move clearly,” former WUSA9 employee and public safety blogger Dave Statter said. Staffer has been tracking failures at OUC for five years now, and says staffing issues are a major party of the problem. “They've been way overworked at OUC because they're so short staffed, and some of those people on the floor, they work their shift and then are required to work another six hours because of mandatory overtime. It's difficult.”
OUC is the fourth-busiest call center in the country, handling over 1.7 million 911 calls last year alone. The agency's public dashboard indicates each shift now has a fourth supervisor. But in July, 58 out of the 66 total shifts did not meet staffing levels.
WUSA9 has learned the average annual salary for a call taker is $50,000. Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Chair of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee sent WUSA9 this statement:
"Improving hiring and retention at our public safety agencies – including at the Office of Unified Communications – is essential for our public safety goals. As a result of my Secure DC bill that the Council unanimously passed, we now have greater insight into concerning trends related to below-minimum staffing levels at our 911 call center through the mandated public dashboard. That’s why I fought hard to include hiring and retention incentives for OUC call-takers and dispatchers in this year’s budget. But there is much more work to do.
I am exploring additional interventions around incident reports and legislative action to see the actualization of these improvements that I have been calling for and that the publicly There rightfully expects and deserves.”
“This is a big problem. 911 should answer. It's not. And this shows that the problem is not going away anytime soon,” said Statter.
A spokesperson for OUC says they are continuing to recruit new workers, and offer hiring bonuses. Councilmember Pinto says she is looking into more legislation to force the agency to make changes as “emergency response is too important not to do more to improve outcomes."
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