A September 6 crash at Pensacola Street and White Drive in Tallahassee did more than kill three college friends. It may also have exposed more flaws in the Consolidated Dispatch Agency’s controversial 911 system.
Here’s CDA Director Timothy Lee reviewing the official report Monday for his board members. This is what it sounds like after a dispatcher makes a mistake and sends a fire truck to the wrong address.
“Internal review identified four specific findings which were contributed issues related to the call. To address these specific findings, five measures have been developed. Of these measures, two have already been completed. Two will be addressed in the short term…”
Once again, administrators are promising to fix a system that’s under the microscope after a tragedy. The system has been criticized in the past for missteps in a deadly police ambush, the Strozier Library shootings and the murder of an FSU law professor.
CDA administrators say the latest mistake didn’t delay EMS response. But they reprimanded a dispatcher who made a typographical error and they’re looking into potential system improvements.
Tallahassee City Manager Anita Favors Thompson wants to know if there’s a way dispatchers can better question callers.
“That was a really bad accident. How could we assume there were no injuries? I know we didn’t know for sure. But how could we assume? That was a terrible accident.”
Lee is promising to follow up. But he notes that the system guides dispatchers through a series of questions with callers based on what’s known.
“We’ve learned everything we can learn from an incident like this. And what it’s done is give us an open mind set to help the vendor make their product better.”
Leon County Sheriff Mike Wood says no system is perfect, but he’s satisfied the response to the latest problem is adequate.
