APD's 911 communication center is behind on calls; commissioner proposes solution

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin’s Public Safety Commission met Monday night to discuss concerns over backlogs and long response times within the city’s 911 system, and proposed solutions to the problem.

"When our citizens’ world is starting to unravel, you’re the first voice they hear," said commissioner John Kiracofe.

But some Austinites are finding it’s taking longer and longer to actually hear that voice. Case in point: an armed robbery at Liberty Pharmacy on Spicewood Springs Road in October.

"It was reported it took an hour for APD to respond to that call," said Kiracofe. "Some people reported on social media that when they did call on the particular incident, they asked if the robbers were still on scene, then they kicked it over to 311."

In September, 911 stopped handling so-called non-emergency calls, meaning the crime is no longer in process, with 311 handling them instead, then routing those calls to the appropriate agency.

Even with the non-emergency call center, the 911 call center is still overwhelmed, and Austin Police Lt. Ken Murphy, who heads up the emergency communications division, says the problem is staffing.

"My goal is anyone who calls 911 should have a response within 10 seconds, but you have to have people to make that happened," said Murphy.

Even with the non-emergency call center, the 911 call center is still overwhelmed, and Austin Police Lt. Ken Murphy, who heads up the emergency communications division, says the problem is staffing.

Murphy says he is down 46 out of 180 total operators, many leaving for better paying jobs. That has resulted in a staggering backlog.

"At 2 p.m. Monday, we were holding approximately 1,300 customer service requests in the queue for processing. So we’re about four of five days behind on responding to these requests," said Murphy.

To make that up, they plan to roll out a robot officer of sorts, named Casey.

"Which will streamline the process, allow people to call in, place a report on the phone with an AI, artificial intelligence," said Murphy. "It will ask all the right questions."

That’s expected to roll out in three to four months. Public Safety Commissioners are also asking City Council to make the 911 center separate from APD, which could allow more resources to be brought in, but that’s still being studied.

"Until we get the results of that study, it’s likely that we’ll continue to have emergency communications within APD, which is not to say that different improvements that are of interest to the community won’t be able to move forward," said Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano.

Austin City Council would have to approve a resolution to make the 911 center a separate entity.

A rep for the 311 system says they actually haven’t been overwhelmed by recent changes, because more people are filing reports online.

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