Reno police say 911 response time isn’t as bad as it sounds

Scott Sonner

Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2000 | 8:54 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - Reno police say their 911 response time is getting a bad rap.

Police Lt. Jim Ballard said a recent newspaper report about staff shortages at the 911 dispatch center made the problems sound worse than they really are.

The story in Sunday's Reno Gazette-Journal cited one man who called 911 and was put on hold for five minutes. It also told of a Reno police officer who tried unsuccessfully three times to tell dispatch he had arrived at an emergency call.

"They are very rare, isolated incidents," Ballard said Tuesday.

"Might they happen at some point? Yes. But they are very unusual, very rare. It usually takes us between 10 and 12 seconds to answer the phone," he said.

Ballard said the goal is to answer all 911 calls within 10 seconds. He said the department meets that goal about 70 percent of the time.

The 911 dispatchers typically receive more than 500 calls a day and the response time is consistently between 8 and 14 seconds, he said.

The newspaper reported that eight of 53 dispatch jobs are vacant at the center that provides service for 15 emergency agencies.

"Right now, dispatch is having a real problem because they are so shorthanded," Fire Chief Marty Scheuerman told the Gazette-Journal.

"The call volume is going up and up and up, and dispatchers are in extremely short supply. That doesn't leave us a lot of latitude when we get really busy."

Ballard says the police force is ramping up the staffing levels.

In regard to the Cold Springs man who was put on hold for five minutes, Ballard said the man called to report a ladder was in the middle of the street.

"I happen to know that is NHP (Nevada Highway Patrol) jurisdiction. So they might have been put on hold," he said.

"But that is an exception to the rule," he said.

Ballard also said there are a number of reasons why an officer might not get through to a dispatcher. He said the officer could be in a radio "dead zone" or perhaps two officers could be talking over each other so they can't hear the other's voice.

"There could be a million different reasons," he said.