Fort Worth wants to improve its 911 call response times, and getting more dispatchers in the same room — and using the same technology — could be part of the solution.
Currently, police, fire and MedStar all operate separate dispatch and communications centers. As a result, the 911 system in the city is slower than officials would like, and there’s no single point of accountability.
To fix those issues, Fort Worth’s long-term plan is to create a city communications/dispatch department and hire a 911 administrator to oversee it. In addition, officials will search for a new, shared communications center. In the interim, council members approved a $140,000 contract with Fitch & Associates April 23 to review the current call centers and identify ways to increase their connectivity and improve response times.
“The overall goal is to reduce the number of rollover calls that we have and to decrease the number of call transfers, making that 911 experience better,” Assistant City Manager Valerie Washington said at an EMS committee meeting April 16.
Many of the ideas in Fort Worth’s plan to improve the 911 system came from a collaborative working group. That group includes representatives from the city manager’s office; the IT, human resources, police and fire departments; Tarrant County 911 District; and the non-emergency call team.
“We also want to look at a 911 system that is more robust and is beyond just fire, police and MedStar and brings in some other social service groups,” Washington said.
Some adjustments can happen sooner than others. Making sure all dispatch scripts are efficient is one short-term fix, Washington said. Although council members did not speak to their vote April 23, several offered thoughts around improving the call systems at the EMS committee meeting.
“I think the city has really dropped the ball in moving with a sense of urgency around this so I just want us to pick that up,” Mayor Mattie Parker said.
Parker pointed to money set aside in the 2024 budget to hire a 911 administrator, money that has yet to be spent. Washington said the 911 working group has reached a consensus on a job description for the 911 administrator and is ready to move forward with filling the position. She said the city has budgeted around $170,000 for the position, equivalent to a department head, and is working with an outside recruiter.
District 4 council member Charlie Lauersdorf said that while he agreed action on the 911 centers was needed, he wants Fitch to take into account the city’s rapid growth, so there won’t be a need for a new study a few years from now.
Fort Worth’s push to improve its emergency call center operations comes as the city prepares for a major change to its EMS system. At the April 16 meeting, the EMS committee recommended a switch from longtime provider MedStar to a fire-based EMS system.
Council members also tapped Fitch & Associates to guide that switch. The consultant group was initially responsible for an emergency medical services study, which ultimately produced fire-based EMS as an option for Fort Worth to consider.
At the April 23 meeting, council members approved a new $400,000 contract with Fitch & Associates to oversee the transition and implementation of the new EMS system.
In all, Fitch has received about $722,500 in contracts related to the city’s EMS and 911 emergency response over the last year. Washington said the plan is to wrap up the Fitch’s 911 call center project by January 2025. The transition to a fire-based EMS system is estimated to take 12 to 18 months.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.