Alameda County Grand Jury
• 2019-2020
Oakland 9-1-1 Communications Center – a Center in Crisis Executive Summary
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 16 findings
20-16
Page 1
Oakland’s communications center fails to meet the CalOES Standard of answering 95% of all emergency calls within 15 seconds, jeopardizing public safety. Finding-20-17: The communications center continues to operate under-staffed and has not conducted a dispatcher recruitment since June 2018, placing an unacceptable burden on dispatchers working excessive overtime hours.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-16
Oakland’s communications center fails to meet the CalOES Standard of answering 95% of all emergency calls within 15 seconds, jeopardizing public safety. Finding-20-17: The communications center continues to operate under-staffed and has not conducted a dispatcher recruitment since June 2018, placing an unacceptable burden on dispatchers working excessive overtime hours.
No recommendations for this finding
20-18
Page 1
The amount of overtime paid to dispatchers in 2019 reached $2 million. This amount of money could be used to fund up to 15 permanent dispatcher positions.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-18
The amount of overtime paid to dispatchers in 2019 reached $2 million. This amount of money could be used to fund up to 15 permanent dispatcher positions.
No recommendations for this finding
20-19
Page 1
Delays in completing the new CAD project are due, in part, to lack of available staff dedicated to provide project management and comprehensive configuration input to the vendor.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-19
Delays in completing the new CAD project are due, in part, to lack of available staff dedicated to provide project management and comprehensive configuration input to the vendor.
No recommendations for this finding
20-20
Page 1
The responsibilities to manage Public Records Acts requests and staff the Oakland Police Department’s complaint line creates an unacceptable burden on an understaffed communications center and diverts staff away from answering emergency calls.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-20
The responsibilities to manage Public Records Acts requests and staff the Oakland Police Department’s complaint line creates an unacceptable burden on an understaffed communications center and diverts staff away from answering emergency calls.
No recommendations for this finding
20-21
Page 1
The communications center’s failure to establish a call-answering policy or standard contributes to a lack of accountability to the Oakland community. 67 2019―2020 Alameda County Grand Jury Final Report
No recommendations for this finding
F20-21
The communications center’s failure to establish a call-answering policy or standard contributes to a lack of accountability to the Oakland community. 67
No recommendations for this finding
20-22
Page 1
The communications center’s recorded messages that callers are greeted with when call takers are busy unnecessarily increases the number of abandoned calls.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-22
The communications center’s recorded messages that callers are greeted with when call takers are busy unnecessarily increases the number of abandoned calls.
No recommendations for this finding
20-23
Page 1
Hiring of communications center staff has lagged because of an overly complicated hiring process.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-23
Hiring of communications center staff has lagged because of an overly complicated hiring process.
No recommendations for this finding
20-24
Page 1
The recruitment of dispatchers is set as an unacceptably low priority by OPD.
No recommendations for this finding
F20-24
The recruitment of dispatchers is set as an unacceptably low priority by OPD.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 2
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CL1 Page 11The City of Oakland Emergency Communication Center does not meet the national or state standards to answer emergency calls. As a result, each year thousands of 9-1-1 callers abandon their attempts to reach out for help from first responders. Even more callers wait for over two minutes before being connected to a live 9-1-1 operator. Simply put, Oakland’s underfunded and understaffed 9-1-1 communications center cannot manage the volume of emergency and non- emergency calls it receives, placing the public’s safety at risk. 66
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CL2 Page 12While the grand jury acknowledges that Oakland faces an on-going financial crisis now exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s failure to address staffing shortages within the communications center is inexcusable. The city was advised twice in recent years of these shortfalls in separate independent reports. The 2017 city auditor’s report and a city-sponsored consultant’s report in 2019 both concluded that the communications center was woefully understaffed. They both made comprehensive recommendations, many of which the city has ignored. The grand jury is disappointed that the city has done so little to address these persistent problems. City leaders must take immediate actions to rectify this negligent oversight of public safety service and operations.
No Responses Found 1
Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.
Oakland
City