New technology and revamped training push to improve KC 911 wait times and response

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Wait times have been frustrating for many in KCMO when trying to get ahold of 911, the department is going through many changes right now to try and improve.

In March, KD implemented its new Automated Abandoned Callback feature.

This feature automatically returns the phone call to the person who hung up before they were answered. It confirms if they meant to call 911.

KD added this because the prior way was for a call taker to return phone calls and it would tie up resources and create delays in helping other callers.

Since it’s been implemented, they said things are going well, but it will take more time to see the impact.

“We need a few more months of good information before we can make some decisions but right now we are very happy and I think it will help,” said KD Major Gregory Williams with the Logisitical Division.

KCTV5 talked with some businesses in the last two weeks about frustrations with crimes.

One said they’ve had issues with getting ahold of a dispatcher.

“Unfortunately sometimes a small amount of times, you might have to wait a little bit, but it is worth the wait,” said Major Williams.

READ MORE: New Med-Act station in Johnson County helping improve 911 response times

He added that higher call volume times and the priority of a call can be the reason why things may take longer.

“It all depends on what is going on at the time,” said Major Williams.

Williams said their big push right now is to increase staff to help lower wait times. He said they need around 100 dispatchers and call takers to be fully staffed.

They are currently down about 29 positions and staff is on mandatory overtime. They’ve even had a little more than 20 officers trained on the system to help with wait times if they’d like overtime.

“Even if we get to that fully staffed mark, for a city this size with the million plus calls that we do we probably need to be around 150,” said Major Williams.

KD decided to revamp their training for soon-to-be employees.

“Currently our success rate has went through the roof compared to what it was before,” said Major Williams.

But even with fewer staff, he said their average hold time has decreased by two seconds in the last 12-15 months.

“While we are not making the strides that we would like to they are coming down,” said Major Williams.

KD is also updating its technology.

Currently, all employees are working out of the South Patrol Division while the Main Call Center gets updated with a new Computer Aided Dispatch system also known as CAD.

This is the first time they’ve updated it in about six years.

“Any technology that we implement we hope that will be more efficient in all our processes, so that is what we are hoping plus it actually puts us kinda into the future of other technologies that are available to use,” said Major Williams.

In the last month, KD got new radios for officers and patrol cars.

These radios have new capabilities where dispatch can send all kinds of information to officers out in the field such as booking photos.

Staff is moving back to the main call center on June 24 and then the south patrol call center will be updated as well.

Overall, they said to anyone struggling with the wait times to know they are working on it and if you need help, stay on the line.

“While there are times it is frustrating for the wait, stay on the line we are there we will come,” said Williams.

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