Erie County 911 Dispatch Center

For all of you out there that have not heard the 911 center is failing and putting Police Officers in harms way. Although you won't see this on the news, or read about it, you can bet your last dollar it is going on. Since the Erie Police Dept went online with the center, we are down to one channel working, dispatchers sending the wrong department to the call and inocent people being pulled out of their homes at gun point all because the 911 center gave the state police the wrong information. This call was really going on in Erie, but police were sent to girard pa.This is only one of the many incidents that have happened with the 911 Center being at fault. Why have you not read about this, well think about it, who would look bad. Can't figure it out, well how about Joe Weindorf ,Mark DiVeccio and Mayor Sinnott who support this failure.
Help us out ERIE, spread the word that the 911 CENTER is no good and we need to go back to the old system before someone gets seriously hurt.
And food for thought,,,if this center was so good , why is millcreek still not on line.

You are not alone! There are many people involved in Public Safety around the county that are actively keeping track and recording all of the mistakes that are being made on a daily basis. These people truly believe that if things to change up there, someone is going to die. God Bless you and your fellow officers, the EFD and the Millcreek Volunteer Fire Depts and MPS. We all hear what is happening and pray for you everyday!

Land of Oz is right. You are not alone. There are many people working on a daily basis all around erie county to try to help the situation. The Erie City Police and Fire are unions. Might I point your attention to a lawsuit going on right now in York County where Three police unions are SUING the county of york to go back to the old system until the new system can work out the bugs....Just a thought! How about representation at the City Council meetings? Look what K.E.E.P. has been able to do. No one can do this alone. People need to work together to change things for the common good and public safety of the residents and people in uniform!

How do you have time to document all the mistakes. I personally can say that there are mistakes made on almost every dispatch call for EPD. Most are minor but some could potentially be fatal. What's up with the common phrased used by the county dispathcers "Any available unit..." This is not how you dispatch calls. You assign a unit to a call. There are reasons that the calls are assigned. They must understand summer is coming - no one is going to offer to take a call that is not a priority. You should only use that phrase if there is an emergency.

It is not just Erie Pd that is getting screwed over in these life and death emergencies that ECDOPS is screwing up. It is ALL County police,fire and EMS! People are being put on hold when they call 911 or their call is "lost" in the GRAND computer system up there for 2 hours! Do the people in Erie County think that this is NORMAL procedure when they call 911? People are waiting well over 2 hrs. just to get a police officer show up! How does that make the City of Erie police look? Or sending the wrong fire department to a house fire? People will blame the police and fire personnel for "taking to long" to get there not realizing that they were not notified of the incident when it first came in. As for documenting all these problems, all of the dispatch centers have started to keep track of all of these mistakes and together, have made the list public. Anyone can go in and listen to these calls at any time on: www.scanamerica.us and even go back the prior 7 days and listen. Have a bucket close by because it will make you sick to your stomach!

People who are calling 911 are not being placed on hold, there are call takers and there are dispatchers. That is just a horrible rumor to spread to the community. The only way that calls sit up on the screen for so long is if they are low priority, high priority ALWAYS takes precedence.  For being a dispatcher you should know that not all 911 calls are actual emergencies. If citizens are waiting for police to show up after 2 hrs, chances are that they are busy dealing with actual "life or death emergencies." Maybe EPD should up the staffing to adequately handle the calls during certain times of the day. I wonder what all the dispatch centers statistics would be if laid out in public, you know just to be fair.

Haha, you are funny! A horrible rumor to be spread...EVERY incident on here is very TRUE and accurate as it has gone out over the airwaves for everyone to hear! And if you and the other "call-taker's/dispatcher' s" at Erie County would learn the difference between an "emergency" and "non-emergency",or even who is suppose to go where, then maybe these problems wouldn't be happening! You can't keep track of the cars EPD has on duty now, and yet you say they don't have enough cars?!

Cut the crap wrote:

People who are calling 911 are not being placed on hold, there are call takers and there are dispatchers. That is just a horrible rumor to spread to the community. The only way that calls sit up on the screen for so long is if they are low priority, high priority ALWAYS takes precedence.  For being a dispatcher you should know that not all 911 calls are actual emergencies. If citizens are waiting for police to show up after 2 hrs, chances are that they are busy dealing with actual "life or death emergencies." Maybe EPD should up the staffing to adequately handle the calls during certain times of the day. I wonder what all the dispatch centers statistics would be if laid out in public, you know just to be fair.

How about you cut the crap! Sounds to me like a county top dog to me doing the whimpering-(Steve maybe??) You should have trained your people better Period! Quit making excuses about EPD staffing. None of us ever had problems getting the calls out. But then again we trained hands on with a trainer for 6 months. Your center stinks to high heaven and you know it! And, you are to blame!

My sentiments are with the majority of posters on here. Cut the crap, looks like you're vastly outnumbered on your opinion.

concerned wrote:

How do you have time to document all the mistakes. I personally can say that there are mistakes made on almost every dispatch call for EPD. Most are minor but some could potentially be fatal. What's up with the common phrased used by the county dispathcers "Any available unit..." This is not how you dispatch calls. You assign a unit to a call. There are reasons that the calls are assigned. They must understand summer is coming - no one is going to offer to take a call that is not a priority. You should only use that phrase if there is an emergency.

It is not one person doing all of the listening. All over Erie County people are listening and if they hear something they know to be wrong they jot it down. After a few incidents these people go to scanamerica.us to the archive tapes and listen to the call to verify that is what happened. Then the information is passed on to a group in west county that verifies the information again. Then it gets posted on the "Log" and then the "Log" is updated every week and distributed to those who truly care about what is happening to Public Safety, not just in the City of Erie, but the rest of the County too!

These aren't 'opinions' just the bleatings of buggy whip manufacturers displaced by technology and fiscal sanity.

BeckyKnapp wrote:

My sentiments are with the majority of posters on here. Cut the crap, looks like you're vastly outnumbered on your opinion.

Cut the crap wrote:

People who are calling 911 are not being placed on hold, there are call takers and there are dispatchers. That is just a horrible rumor to spread to the community. The only way that calls sit up on the screen for so long is if they are low priority, high priority ALWAYS takes precedence.  For being a dispatcher you should know that not all 911 calls are actual emergencies. If citizens are waiting for police to show up after 2 hrs, chances are that they are busy dealing with actual "life or death emergencies." Maybe EPD should up the staffing to adequately handle the calls during certain times of the day. I wonder what all the dispatch centers statistics would be if laid out in public, you know just to be fair.

REALLY???? When everyone knows in scanner land that when listening to EPD and EFD calls you also get to listen to Millcreek Police and Fire, EmergyCare, East County and the Pa State Police! Haven't heard anything being screwed up by them. So Please. Here is a sample of what was recently verified:
from scanamerica.us archives
4-13-09 12:19 am
EC911 to EPD (B-1)*** E. 12th St. man just pushed thru door and assaulted his roommate. Atleast that is what I am reading here. Drove off in a black trailblazer (gives plate #)
EPD (B-1) go ahead and run that plate
EC911-This call sat for probably 10 minutes on my screen because I don't have anyway of knowing when a call pops up. So the vehicle might be out of the area by now.
4-13-09 11:28 pm
EC911 to EPD (K-6) It's going to be the Country Fair, correction the parking lot of the Quality Market. You are looking for a white mini van that has been parked in front of the building. The caller explained that her son was jumped by a group of four juveniles.
EPD (K-6) Alright. I'll be out here now. Is there any reason this call was held for 2 hours? It's a Robbery!

Cut the crap wrote:

People who are calling 911 are not being placed on hold, there are call takers and there are dispatchers. That is just a horrible rumor to spread to the community. The only way that calls sit up on the screen for so long is if they are low priority, high priority ALWAYS takes precedence.  For being a dispatcher you should know that not all 911 calls are actual emergencies. If citizens are waiting for police to show up after 2 hrs, chances are that they are busy dealing with actual "life or death emergencies." Maybe EPD should up the staffing to adequately handle the calls during certain times of the day. I wonder what all the dispatch centers statistics would be if laid out in public, you know just to be fair.

BULL!!! I know that the 911 calls ring off the hook. Also, I know that there are priority 1 calls that are not answered immediately. Don't even go there!!!!

Chandu wrote:

These aren't 'opinions' just the bleatings of buggy whip manufacturers displaced by technology and fiscal sanity.
<quoted text>

..You will have to forgive me. I am a self appointed expert on everything. Even things I clearly have no grasp on the subject matter at hand. I prefer not to post on the actual topic of discussion, rather, I write meaningless blather about the persons posting.

these posts are helpful in the sense that the public is becoming more aware in the flaws in the new county 911 center, but its not going to make any radical changes or cause the 911 administrators go hide....what its going to take are the unions presidents of both the erie police and fire department, plus the millcreek twp fire chiefs association to go public with their complaints. Or, its going to take the public to go to the media and complain about the poor quality of service.

our elected officials have made their decision, based on cost savings.....they honestly dont care about what you have to say....

4-15-09 11:20 pm scanamerica.us
EC 911 to EPD (B-7)
2522 Pennsylvania Ave. for a home invasion that just occurred.
B-7 to EC911 B-7 here, how long ago did this occur?
EC911-the call came in at 23:12 (11:12pm) subject is a male wearing a hood & mask unknown which direction of travel upon leaving the residence.
B-7 to 911-So this is 6 minutes old?
911 to B-7-That is correct. also the subject was armed.
A-1 to 911-we are going to start over that way. what was the actor's description?
911 to A-1-male waring a hood and mask.
A-1 to 911-is that it? any color, height, weight, race?
911 to A-1 Negative. that is all I have for a description.

Erie County Dispatch is a joke, the biggest joke I've heard in a long time. The worst part is that this joke isnt going to end with a punch line. Its gonna end with someone getting injuried or killed!

Erie County Dispatch can have all the computers and radios they want but the problem is who they have sitting in front of those computers and radios. There are some dispatchers that know what they are doing BUT they have twice as many that DON'T! They've been trained BUT not the right way. They dispatch BUT not correctly.

If I worked there and knew what I was doing I would up someones a$$ and around the corner about having these unexperienced clowns on the radio. The problem with going to the media about this is the county, just like any other political game they will cover it up and sweep it under the rug. Politics are a bitch!

God Help us all wrote:

Erie County Dispatch is a joke, the biggest joke I've heard in a long time. The worst part is that this joke isnt going to end with a punch line. Its gonna end with someone getting injuried or killed!
Erie County Dispatch can have all the computers and radios they want but the problem is who they have sitting in front of those computers and radios. There are some dispatchers that know what they are doing BUT they have twice as many that DON'T! They've been trained BUT not the right way. They dispatch BUT not correctly.
If I worked there and knew what I was doing I would up someones a$$ and around the corner about having these unexperienced clowns on the radio. The problem with going to the media about this is the county, just like any other political game they will cover it up and sweep it under the rug. Politics are a bitch!

We thank you for your support. Just say a prayer that no one gets seriously hurt before someone gets this mess straightened out.

These people are not dispatchers. They are a cheaply paid joke! BRING BACK THE ERIE DISPATCHERS!!!!!!!!!!

We all need to remember that the majority dispatchers/call takers up there are "NEW". None of us should be putting another human being down for trying to keep a job! Keeps them off the unemployment and welfare line. Blame and Disgust should be placed with the ECDOPS, County Council, City Council and Millcreek Township Supervisors who chose "MONEY" over "SAFETY". Please try to remember that. We are all upset and angry and need somewhere to vent, but to lay blame on the incompentency of those WHO WERE TRAINED by the County to do the job does no good. If the county would have listened to the experience telling them what to do and what not to do in the beginning, things might, I caution, might be a little better. There are significant problems up there. Equipment problems, software problems and dispatching problems. They are relying on computers to tell them how to do something that has to have human common sense involved in the action as well. By the way, the new "Log" for the week will be disbursed tomorrow!