Editorial: Waiting for help to arrive

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2005 | 8:20 a.m.

The average of nine seconds it takes for Henderson emergency dispatchers to answer a 911 call falls within the national average of seven to 10 seconds but is sluggish compared to other local municipalities. North Las Vegas emergency dispatchers, on average, take six seconds to answer 911 calls, and Metro Police dispatchers take four seconds to pick up the emergency phones.

But averages don't tell the whole story, as the Las Vegas Sun reported Wednesday in the tale of a Henderson homeowner who on Sept. 19 called 911 twice as two men broke into his home. After receiving no answer the first time, the homeowner called 911 a second time, watching as the men threw a rock through his bedroom window and climbed in. In a scene more reminiscent of Hollywood than of a weeknight in relatively quiet Henderson, the homeowner scared off the bandits by shooting at them with his 9mm handgun. One can easily imagine another, more terrifying outcome if the homeowner hadn't been an armed security guard and a former Navy rescue frogman.

One reason for the delay may be that Henderson dispatchers are facing an in-house staffing emergency. Henderson has 27 dispatchers, which doesn't include four vacancies for which the city is conducting a national search. Reports about the Henderson resident's harrowing experience last month have spurred interest among prospective dispatchers. At least 100 applicants have contacted the city in the past two weeks about the jobs, which have a starting annual salary of $53,372. That's about $16,000 more than the annual starting pay for Metro dispatchers.

Although Henderson dispatchers are paid more, they also do more than send out firefighters and police. They field nonemergency calls for animal control and public works issues -- calls that Metro and North Las Vegas handle through 311 systems for nonemergencies. Granted, those cities typically cover areas with higher rates of crime than Henderson. But it would seem Henderson's emergency dispatchers could pick up the phones faster if there were more of them.

In the short-term the city definitely needs more dispatchers -- at the very least, enough to cover the existing vacancies. For the long-term Henderson officials should increase staff, find other methods of responding to nonemergency calls and recognize the reality that their city no longer is a small town but has become a big player in a major metropolitan area. No excuse will sound reasonable when the next homeowner calling for help is unarmed and helpless.