911 Center Evolution Is Sorely Needed, but Challenging to Achieve

Ideally, a 911 center would be purpose-built. It would be large enough to accommodate the number of workstations needed to support the current and future number of telecommunicators working in the center. The workstations would be ergonomic and large enough to house all the monitors, technology, and infrastructure that enable telecommunicators to perform their roles effectively and efficiently.

The center would be designed to give supervisors a clear view of the operations floor and every workstation that’s on it, and would incorporate quiet rooms, break rooms, and kitchens to foster telecommunicator and supervisor well-being. It would be well lit, with a lot of ambient light, would have adequate heating and air-conditioning, and reliable backup power, including an uninterruptible power supply . It would accommodate a large video wall that every telecommunicator and supervisor easily could view to enhance situational awareness. Finally, the center would be designed so that it easily could be expanded to keep pace with population growth.

But only rarely does all this occur. Most primary 911 centers are operated by law-enforcement agencies while secondary centers mostly are operated by fire departments. Often, 911 centers are shoehorned into whatever space can be carved out of the police department, sheriff’s office, or fire department facility. The space usually is inadequate and incapable of expansion, and it almost never is purpose-built. When considering expansion capabilities, we also need to think about expanding operations on any given shift that requires additional staff members to handle the workload. All too often these spaces are not properly designed for 24/7 operations where telecommunicators are working extended hours and performing high-pressure job tasks.

This creates a lot of problems. Telecommunicators often don’t have all the tools they need to do their jobs well. The claustrophobic nature of the working environment causes their health and well-being to suffer, leading many to leave the profession. This in turn leads to staffing shortages, which sometimes results in performance issues for the center and additional stress for the personnel that remain because they must handle more emergency calls and work longer shifts, often because of mandatory overtime.

Technology implementation also is a big challenge. The center’s confines often limit the networks, systems, devices, and supportive infrastructure that can be implemented, which means that telecommunicators don’t always have what they need to perform their roles optimally, a condition that is exacerbated by the swift and continual evolution of the emergency-response environment. Risks are ever-changing, but so too are the technologies designed to mitigate them. To provide those technologies and improve their operations, 911 centers often add workstations and other gear in a hodgepodge manner, which exacerbates an already cramped environment. This offsets, at least to some degree, any operational gains provided by the implementation.

The situation is untenable. As the emergency-response environment evolves, 911 centers must evolve in lockstep. A future blog will offer some best practices that every 911 center can leverage to manage their own evolution.

Stacy Banker is MCP’s facilities and design manager. Email her at StacyBanker@MissionCriticalPartners.com.