Audit Finds DC 911 Center Failed National Standards

The District of Columbia’s 911 center failed in many months to meet national standards for getting timely help to callers, found the Office of D.C. Auditor (ODCA) in a Tuesday report. Insufficient supervision of 911 call-taking and dispatch, plus operators’ distrust in automatic location technology, contributed to failures at the Office of Unified Communications including inconsistent call handling and difficulties determining location of emergencies, the report said.

Consulting firm Federal Engineering (FE) conducted the audit for ODCA, assessing OUC’s effectiveness against national standards by reviewing 2019 and 2020 call metrics and a sample of 911 recordings, ODCA said. The auditor sought the review in September 2020 after complaints by advisory neighborhood commissioners (ANCs) and news reports, including by Communications Daily, about failures sending first responders on time to the right locations.

“The comprehensive findings include inadequate supervision of the call-taking and dispatch operations, inconsistent or ineffective use of call script protocols, inconsistent use of location determining technology tools to determine locations, and insufficient management follow-up on after-action reviews,” wrote D.C. Auditor Kathleen Patterson in a cover letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D).

OUC made changes in 2021 and will invest more in 2022, interim Director Cleo Subido said in an attached Oct. 7 response to a draft report. “Beginning in February, both during and after the audit review process, OUC made significant strides in call-taking metrics, continuing to create a culture of accountability and excellence, supporting our staff’s mental health, and building collaborative relationships with sister agencies to better serve District residents.”