DEPARTMENT: Police Department
DEPARTMENT HEAD: William McManus, Chief of Police
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Communications Center Update
SUMMARY:
The San Antonio Police Department's Communications Center has improved answer times and reduced abandoned call rates, through hiring additional staff, shifting expediter duties and the use of voluntary overtime. Berkshire Advisors has been contracted to review the current operations and provide recommendations for improvements to attain NENA Standards. Their report is due by July 5, 2016; however they have provided us with preliminary recommendations as we continue our discussion in finalization of their report. Their primary recommendation focuses on hiring additional call takers.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Communications Center has seen improvement in the NENA Standards for (1) Grade of Service (GOS), (2) Answer Rate; and (3) Abandoned Call Rate. These improvements were primarily achieved by hiring additional staff and moving expediters to call taking positions. Other improvements have included contracting with a third-party vendor to conduct background checks; making more offers to potential call takers than positions available, knowing 49% will drop out during the background check/training process; and offering scheduled voluntary overtime to existing call takers, allowing trained staff to fill in the gaps during periods of high call volume.
Year
Avg. Grade of Service
Avg Answer Time
911 Abandoned %
2016 YTD*
78.4%
13.1 sec
19.6%
2015 YTD*
67.1%
16.6 sec
21.8%
2015
53.3%
19.1 sec
22.0%
*Year-To-Date Jan 1-June 16, 2016
ISSUE:
Discussions with Berkshire Advisors have provided us with these preliminary recommendations:
1. Increasing staffing levels given the volume of calls coming into the Communications Center. Generally speaking, FTEs should be increased by 25-60% based on the staffing model.
2. Modifying the current staff...
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