KCPD 911 dispatch implemented a new feature to try and help problems that are slowing down their ability to take calls.
The system will automatically call back anyone that makes a call to 911 and hangs up.
Dispatch is required to call back all abandoned calls. They receive more than one million calls a year and last year, more than 116,000 of those were hang up calls. This was a problem due to staffing issues.
Steve Hoskins with KCPD dispatch told me they have 28 out of around 90 positions open, leading to a lot of work for call takers and longer wait times for callers.
He hopes this automatic feature will really make a difference.
“What we are hoping is that those mistakes, the ones where people accidentally call 911 will take care of those automatically and take that workload off of us and hopefully allow us to answer 911 a little faster and improve our wait times,” said Steve Hoskins, KCPD interoperability systems manager.