Say Unified Call System Is Flawed
City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, chair of the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee, called on city officials to release a report regarding the 911 Unified Call Taking Response System (UCT).
Since its launch in 2009, Crowley said, the UCT system has encountered a string of fatal errors, as inadequately trained call takers, slow and inaccurate dispatching of units and complete system crashes have plagued the UCT for years.
Reports published last Monday, Apr. 2, of an unreleased 911 Call Processing Review indicated that response time to emergencies have slowed and a number of potentially fatal inefficiencies still loom over the system.
Despite a $2 billion investment from the city, Crowley said, emergency communications continue to worsen and, without review, these shortcomings could cost lives. In multiple letters to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Crowley has repeatedly called for the public release of this report regarding the city’s emergency response network.
“Our emergency response network is the lifeline of the City. However, since 2009 the Unified Call Taking System has failed the people of New York City on a number of occasions,” Crowley said. “People have died as a result of firefighters and EMS responders being sent to the wrong location and because nothing has been done, the system continues to worsen. The mayor’s administration must immediately release the 911 Call Processing Review Report so that we can work together to address these fatal inadequacies.”
