In a memorandum from Dunwoody's city manager to the city's mayor and city council, it appears the city of Dunwoody is posed to leave DeKalb's E-911 system. This will be discussed Monday night, April 12, 2010.
Even as the county collects all 911 charges from both wired and wireless phone lines in the City of Dunwoody, the county refuses to dedicate a radio channel for the Dunwoody Police. Because Dunwoody Police doesn't have a dedicated channel, their calls, especially emergency calls are delayed.
Who can blame them? Especially after the fiasco with fire dispatched that caused the death of a Dunwoody resident. Not to mention the antiquated hardware and software of DeKalb's E-911 system.
How long has it been since we supposedly went digital, and emergency calls are still be dispatched to wrong precincts and absolutely nothing is being done to correct it?
The City of Dunwoody would be wise to seek their own E-911 system or share one with another city.
The commissioners of DeKalb County would be wise to ask for an outside investigation into our E-911 system to expose the waste, maybe theft and fraud of taxpayer money, before there is another preventable death.
Click here for the memorandum.
Click here for City of Dunwoody City Council meeting agenda.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
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29 comments:
No there is "NO"dedicated call-taker position for Dunwoody for the simple fact is DeKalb answers calls for many police agencies,Atlanta,Chamblee,Doraville,Fulton,Gwinnett,Sandy Springs,Clayton,Henry,Rockdale,even Cobb,depending on where the callers phone hit,we also dispatch for Avondale,Pine Lake,Stone Mountain,Clarkston,and Lithonia,we don't see these agencies crying for a dedicated radio or calltaker. We don't prioritize calls over the other unless they are high priority calls. Yes Dunwoody has to fight for air time,but that is something they should take up with North Precinct Command. If Dunwoody want to go to Chatcom they Ciao,we have enough traffic as it is on North without them getting attitudes and yelling at radio because they can't get out on the air. Trust me they won't be missed however we will still be getting calls for service in Dunwoody because of the cell tower,the call will then be transferred to whoever they decide to dispatch for them and it will still be a delay in call. Good luck,Good riddance,good bye
WOW. Looks like the North Fulton fallout has hit Dekalb. Remember when the dispatcher in Fulton sent the North Fulton ambulance to a house in SW Atlanta. Since then, all of the North Fulton cities decided to take over 911 for their areas. Other cities in Fulton have considered doing the same.
I can't really blame Dunwoody like the North Fulton cities as Fulton and Dekalb don't believe in firing folks for incompetence, only because you are not a friend of the status quo.
PS-Does anyone know what happened to the City of Druid Hills proposal?
Glad to see Dunwoody go somewhere else.
You have to love our radio system , when the operators ask over and over ..........WHAT PRECINCT DOES THIS CALL BELONG? .Its every day that they will ask a Sgt what precinct does this call need to be assigned.
Where is Conroy while all this is happening.
Kissing Ass and wait to be Chief of Staff.
Can we blame the person in charge for the problems in radio?
Looks like Dunwoody wants a professional communication system to rely on while working.
I bet Dunwoody comes back to DeKalb after a few years. The cost factor or they will raise taxes to pay for all their high dollar equipment.
What happens when a disaster strikes
WHO THEY GOING TO CALL?
Can't wait for them to go. They make up their own phonetic alphabet, they talk over not only DKPD but over everyone else in their own department and every time they key up, those damn radios of theirs makes the damnedest noise. Not to mention the fact that 1425 enjoys eating his mic while SCREAMING into it! Later Dunwoody, you wanted to be on your own so bad, just leave already!
Also what about blaming the person who traines these 911 operators...
Radio traffic....its bad on all sides. Dispatch isn't the only problem.
Dispatch-
1. Never knows which territory to assign the call
2. Too many open mikes that pick up "grab-assing" and radio gossip.
3. Call volume...the headset always seems to be a problem when we can't hear them.
4. Reads the dispatch word for word when we ask for clarification (the dispatch on my screen says the same thing...Duhhhhh)
5. Too often, radio is not listening and doesn't respond
Officers-
1. Don't wait for radio to acknowledge them
2. Speak too fast (its not a race and you're not an auctioneer)
3. Whisper into the radio...Talk up so we can hear ya!
4. Don't turn down the second radio in the patrol car (we can't understand you when you're traffic is drowned out by your own traffic coming across the 2nd radio).
5. Don't listen to their radio...too busy writing tickets.
6. Too much 10-35 traffic....Say what needs to be said...we don't need the stuff that adds little or no value.
Sandy Springs has multiple call takers dedicated for just that. Dekalb only picks up callers in certain areas with cell phone hitting the wrong 911 tower. Come on over Dunwoody.
Wasnt Director Miller's first priority to seek another CAD program?? Didnt he even admit that there are serious officer safety issues with this CAD?? I guess that was just a political statement, similar to CEO "Public Safety is most important" NOT!!!!!!!
Why do officers always try and blame radio operators? Yes we have some slackers,just like pd have slackers.We know we have issue's just like pd have issue's,but you never hear us on here bashing officers because they are rookie's. I understand this is a site to vent our frustration's,if you are frustrated with radio and feel like some operator's don't care, then come up and get a taste of the real world..our world in radio,it aint all sugar plums and lollipops in there. I suggest you focus on things you can change such as your attitude,work ethics and trying to keep citizen's of DeKalb safe. We all have issues, not only with what is going on in the county,the in fighting,hating on each other. Enough!!!! Expend your energy on something positive,or you will become very bitter,and from the looks of some of these posts some of yall are on the precipice of bitter and vile.
Good thier radio traffic is horrible!
Blame the crappy Cad system!!! That system has been giving us grief every since July 2007. It is very flawed and the reason behind our delayed response as well. I say drop Dunwoody and The crappy Cad. If citizens only knew how messed up our Cad system is, there would be a riot!!!!!
Not wanting to get into a police vs. Radio/911 debate because it's a futile effort and no one seems to look at the bigger picture. The fish stinks from the head..is what an old fisherman friend of my dad's always said. CEO on down, the domino effect if you will. If we would all come together, take a stand, voice our frustrations in front of downtown Decatur, with the public looking on, I believe (no I know) we would get results. But NOOO everyone wants to stay at the bottom of the bucket like crabs and nit pick, claw , and scratch at the very people who are AT THE BOTTOM with you -> POINTLESS and just plain idiotic. Dunwoody does need their own E-911 system, operators and systems in their vehicles. Their calls are starting to pick up and they will need CADs inside the units to work the city effectively. One more thing and PLEASE PASS THE WORD AROUND, come to the 5th floor and take a peek in Major Conroys office...you will find that it is VACANT You can now find him on the *** 4th floor *** :)
The CAD's system never did operate as advertised. The CAD's system is probably the most complex computer application in DeKalb's inventory. The application uses GIS, (geographical information system) and multiple databases, a tough act to follow. It's operation is akin to a circus act, like having a lion and two elephants jump through multiple flaming hoops five feet off the ground. It never worked well from the beginning and the contractor kept plugging away at its faults till the money quit being paid and the contractor pulled the analyst who never did complete the technical documentation. The DKPD IT staff is untrained in its functions, and to be honest it would take several high powered and highly paid analysts to figure it out and debug it.
As for the personnel issues in CAD's, I would look at the training of the dispatchers and the performance of the supervisors who are supposed to ensure the operators are doing their jobs.
A couple of hard charging sergeants could probably straighten out the personnel in six weeks. Good luck mates!
To LoFlyer: What do you suggest we do in communications? Some of us do everything possible to get the correct information from the caller,we ask all the right questions,but if they don't have it or not forthcoming with the information,what do you want us to do? We can only give officers the information that we get from the citizen's,half do not know there location,phone number,make/model of veh's,again what do you want us to do? From your previous posts I'm gonna guess that you have been here a good minute and prob got a couple stripes on your arm,well I too have been here for more than 15 yrs,and I have just about taken/dispatched every type of call you can imagine. The CAD is a big issue,we work with what we have 10,12 sometimes 14 hrs a day. We are tired of getting blamed for every lil thing that happens and the ones that are repsonsible don't want to take responsibility for thier screw-up (fireman).I wish we could have a CIVIL round table to discuss the issues instead of units hiding behind anonymous ragging on radio,because truth be told we are the first ones you call when you get into something.Do we have anyone that will take up for us,our management sure as hell not,it's always blame radio,radio did it,well it is not always our fault! How about it..PS NO GUNS ALLOWED!!!LOL-signed 15yr VET
going to a digital radio system doesn't benefit response times or solve problems with poor management and poor CAD implementation.
The agency I work still uses a VHF analog conventional radios and sounds better than any of the garbled digicrap and the money we saved we put into buying a real CAD system (in our case Spillman Summit) and had enough left over to hire a real 911 director who understands how radios systems and CAD systems actually work, and was a beat officer for 18 years so he understands life on the street. He isn't some pencil neck college grad who took a 2 day course on setting up Wifi networks which is the typical resume of a 911 manager these days.
It's all about PEOPLE not technology.
To the 15 yr dispatch vet:
"We are tired of getting blamed for every lil thing that happens and the ones that are repsonsible don't want to take responsibility for thier screw-up (fireman)."
How about you DO YOUR JOB and give everyone ALL the information on the call. The reason that woman is dead is not a fire problem, it was a RADIO problem. But of course no one in communications will get in trouble, they never do! BTW the site is called Dekalb Officer, so it your not an officer, I thank you for your support, but don't come hare and put us on blast!
To Anon who has choice words for 15yr Vet:
1st:Im not trying to get into a pissing match with any officer!
2nd: I asked a question..Let's sit down and have a open discussion,we can learn a lot from each other
3rd: I do my job EVERY DAY,and I do it well,there are never any complaints about my dispatching!
4th: If you get the recording,the dispatcher's did their JOB!If no one get's off the truck,knock on doors,look in the mailbox,all of a sudden it's radio! I am personally tired of talking about the Dunwoody fire,it wasnt me, I was off
Last but not least (pay attention)
I CAN GET ON ANY SITE THAT I WANT TOO,IT'S A FREE COUNTRY AND IF I WANT TO POST SOMETHING I CAN AND I WILL AND IT AIN'T SHIT YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!! YOU DO YOUR JOB,KEEP DeKALB SAFE!! It's not just radio,police and fireman on this site but also citizen's,so If they post something that you don't agree with will you tell them to stay off the site? No..so don't tell me..NOW....YOU GO AND HAVE A BLESSED,SAFE DAY...
15 year vet: You sound like a child with "Its a free country thing," I think I used to say that back in grade school. Oh, and please tell me someone has told you that using phrases like "It ain't shit you can do about it" are not becoming of a professional.
I always feel bad for Tucker Operators but not so much when they have an attitude for whatever reason. I realize some are wives of Officers or date them but we need to leave our issues at home
Maybe the officers and 911 people that are interested in solving this issue ought to set up a meet at a sports bar and sit down, have a few brews and discuss current events. (leave your weapons, mates!)
As far as fixing the CAD's system no one is going to like the solution cause its going to take a fair amount of cash. A good data base analyst will run you 120 grand a year. You need two of them. They will need to come in and study the system and run tests. This will take three to six months, and then they will need to come up with the fixes, run their tests and then implement, this would be done in phases probably lasting about a year. Then work up the documentation so that the next poor SOB will have a clue to figure out this monstrosity. Personally I feel the CAD's system was loaded up with to many diverse functions, that could be off loaded and simplified, the audio recording and playback function for example. Making the system as simple as possible while maintaining and improving core functionality seems to be the key. The CAD's hardware is three years old and replacing the hardware the servers and workstations should be looked at seriously. The technology has gotten a lot better in the last three years and the system could probably gain 25 percent faster speed just upgrading with new hardware. Two good DB analysts will cost the county about 275 grand a year, the hardware upgrade will cost about 500-700 grand to implement. It is important that the DB analysts be DKPD employees not consultants that will be canned in several years. The CAD's system requires continuity of personnel to ensure reliability and optimum performance. As the county will never pay any IT non-manager type 120 grand a year my proposal will never be implemented.
The only other option is engineering a new system which will cost even more than my proposal.
The radios and computers and communications. The county IT has taken the lead in the data communications side, they are not cops and really don't understand the operational issues of your job and how critical the data functions are to your job. Invite them for a half a shift ride with y'all so they can see what happens when the damn things quit working. Better yet hire a couple of sharp wireless/cellular engineers and take back the lead function from county IT. Again this will take some good money to attract the high-powered technical expertise to do the job.
The good news is CAD's can be fixed. The bad news is that it will cost at least half a million to two million to fix the damn thing.
Best of luck mates!
15 yr vet: maybe you are "one of the good ones". But you know darn good and well that not all dispatchers are doing what they're supposed to do. Sorry, but if somebody like me notices it, a lot of other people are too.
The public and anonymous finger pointing isn't productive, I agree, but I sure hope that ongoing conversation can bring a solution that will prevent it from happening again.
Keep up the good work.
11 year vet:.....I just want to ask this? why are we bashing each other for something we can not control...none of us had anything to do with picking out the cad, We had no choice in the matter, And as far as the information on the calls, WE (operators) read everything on a call, what do we gain by not giving you the information...half the time it's like pulling teeth getting the address from the citizen's and most of the time, they are angry w/ the prev services they have had from "PD" then they are angry with everyone, you should hear the stories that the citizens tell us about the police, but we never bash you all, never,. You guys well some of you (pd) bash us really hard and still have to call on us the next day to tell me where you are when u doing a traffic stop or u stopping a 53..if you hate radio so much and don't trust us then I think you need to find another career that is more safe. You chose that career not me. Now as far as the firemen....How is radio responsible for the fireman not walking up that driveway? how is radio at fault for not knocking on the door or better yet a neighbor's door because you could not find the address....you're on the street..radio told you the address, the xst, and that the fm was calling from inside her home..so again how is it radio's fault that you did not look in the mailbox and see she had mail with her address on it. How is it radio's fault that the frieman did not establish command? How is it radio's fault again?...Im not clr...our job is to take the call. put it in the cad, send it to dispatch...dispatch get the call, assign the units, dispatch the call and they clear and we wait, and we wait till the unit tell us something and we wait and we wait...then you went 10-8....radio did not cancel you, nor did the citizen that called in her own house fire canceled you....so again, how is that radio's fault...i want some one to answer that and truthfully....Im just not clear on how raido is responsible for fire not doing their job?
Hopefully this is the last time that I have to post on this subject!To ANON@15 yr vet: Is that the only thing that you can understand from my post "it's a free country? If I sound like a child then I had to SAY it as if I was speaking to a child.Really dude professional? I am very professional,I talk to you like you talk to me.
Thank you ANON poster for your words of encouragement!!Some of your fellow officers could learn a few things from you.:)
Yes 15 year vet...."professional"....as in The Professional 15 year veteran radio operator really just used the phrase "it ain't shit you can do about it."....really.
What happened to the good old days when we had the Motorola STX radios, KDT 240 then the KDT 480 in the cars. And everything worked ALL the time and after work we'd all leave S PCt evening shift and meet the dispatchers at the Silver Saddle on Covington Hwy.
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