Posted by denised in Atlanta’s Deputy Fire Chief, George Turner, was seen on television this week making the following comment about Atlanta’s 911 system, “When multiple people call about the same incident, it clogs the system…only thing I can tell you is we have the best system money can buy.” He declined to comment on whether or not monopoly money was used to purchase the system. The Deputy was being interviewed in the wake of a fire that left a family’s home destroyed after several calls to 911 were placed on hold for as long as 10 minutes. Turner says that staffing and software issues led to the long hold times. What he didn’t say was that Atlanta’s 911 system has been plagued by bad management for years.
The most recent incident is being blamed, at least in part, on the ongoing transition to a new call center. But even before the transition, the system had its problems. A year ago, the Silverman family lost their home to fire after their calls to 911 were placed on hold for several minutes. And last year, a woman died after a 911 dispatcher sent EMS to the wrong address. Allowing Turner to be the public voice of the failed system without first giving him a heads up that it’s probably not a good idea to say out loud “when too many people call 911 the system gets clogged” was also a bad call. It’s human nature to call 911 when witnessing an emergency, so to suggest that too many people called to report an incident almost sounds as though he’s blaming the callers.
Defending a system that essentially crashes when 12 people call to report the same fire was also a serious misstep on the Deputy’s part. The best system money can buy should be able to handle more than 12 calls at once. To preface the statement with ” all I can tell you is…” is even more ridiculous. Turner could have and should have said much more. If he truly believes the system they currently have in place is the best money can buy, he should try to get a refund and fast.
