Crime & Safety
Oakland Police To Add 911 Operators, Upgrade Technology
The planned changes follow a grand jury's findings that police dispatchers are overworked and the center is short-staffed and underfunded.
July 24, 2020
OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Amid calls for police budget cuts, Oakland police plan to hire momre dispatchers, improve their dispatch center’s technology and seek more funding for the center, all to improve public safety.
Find out what's happening in Rockridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The planned changes follow a grand jury’s findings that police dispatchers are overworked and the center is short-staffed and underfunded.
Police will seek more resources for the center from the City Council in the next biennial budget, and the department is working now to improve the center’s technology, said police spokesman Paul Chambers.
Thousands of 911 callers each year abandon their attempts to reach a dispatcher, and even more wait more than two minutes for help, while the state standard is for callers to reach a dispatcher in 15 seconds, according to the report.
Find out what's happening in Rockridgefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
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