Bennett says 43.5% of 911 calls to his office delayed
What if you call 911 and your call is delayed or no one ever responds?
Sheriff Ramsey Bennett addressed commissioners about what he says are serious problems with dispatching 911 calls in a timely fashion if at all. Bennett gave a 30 minute presentation on the issue and at the conclusion indicated he will seek “remedy in the Superior Court of Pierce County” if the problems are not addressed and resolved.
“Gentlemen, it’s time to fish or cut bait,” he said at the conclusion of his remarks before leaving the podium.
The sheriff made his remarks at last Tuesday’s commission meeting.
Lugging three full banker’s boxes of 911 and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) records, Bennett highlighted numerous lapses in both dispatching and response time in the last two years, with 43 percent of calls having delayed response times as recently as last month.
Bennett spread the records out on a table next to the podium where he was speaking.
He said a review of records in September revealed a delay of up to three minutes after 911 was called before help was dispatched.
“We received 402 911 calls in September. A full 175 of them had a delay in dispatching of at least three minutes,” he said.
To illustrate the point, Bennett put his phone on a three minute timer and began to talk about how minutes count when you are stranded with a flat tire, someone is breaking in your home or there is a dire emergency and help is needed urgently.
“I took an oath before God before a superior court judge to protect and to serve Pierce County’s citizens,” Bennett declared. “How am I suppose to do my duty when I and my deputies are never called?”
Bennett went on to say the oath he swore to God was very important to him.
The sheriff cited two death calls in which the sheriff’s office was not dispatched — one for 30 minutes and the other for one hour and two minutes.
Bennett said he also learned of an accident with serious injuries that occurred recently in which the sheriff’s office has not been dispatched to at all.
“We were never notified,” he said.
Bennett said his deputies have been told by citizens while on patrol that “we called for a deputy and no one ever showed up.” He said a large number of his dispatched calls have started coming through the sheriff’s office line (912) 449-2011) instead of 911.
Bennett said he has sent memos and directives to the 911 center and to the county manager and county commissioners’ office in an effort to correct the problem to no avail.
Bennett said he had spoken to 911 supervisor Debra Tanner and Former Public Safety Director Blake James repeatedly about the issues also to no avail. James recently stepped down as public safety director to become executive director of the Pierce County Industrial Development Authority.
The county took over dispatching duties in May, 2023. At that time, a 911 advisory committee was established.
“I’ve begged and pleaded and my directives have been ignored,” he said. “I will not allow lives and property to be at risk!”
Bennett then informed commissioners he planned to take legal action if the problems were not corrected.
First District Commissioner Troy Mattox was surprised.
“Why does it take three minutes to dispatch help?” he asked.
No one answered the question.
Tanner said the 911 center has increased training and reviewed flow charts to expedite how calls are handled.
Second district commissioner Graham Raley asked the sheriff if he had taken his concerns to the 911 advisory committee.
“No, I did not. The buck stops with the county commission. The 911 advisory committee is just that — an advisory committee.”
Raley said the committee was designed to handle issues like the one Bennett had brought up.
“They created the issue by recommending the county take over dispatching,” Bennett answered.
Raley asked for a comparison of data for dispatch times prior to 2023.
Tanner said she would compile that data for commissioners in the next week.
The data was received by The Times Monday morning and showed the interval between call and dispatch was 3.08 minutes in 2021 with a volume of 18,715 calls. Those numbers have steadily declined to 2.45 minutes on 20,684 calls in 2022, 1.91 minutes on 21,540 calls in 2023 and 2.04 minutes on 33,729 calls in 2024.
James said he worked hard during his 14 month tenure as public safety director to improve response times.
“The times have improved since 2022. Is there room for improvement? Of course there is. That is always the goal. There is always an element of human error, but I am extremely proud of the progress we made.”
James also said he was “very disappointed” at the way 911 has been portrayed.
“I’m proud of the work our dispatchers have done to keep our residents safe. The women and men who are our dispatchers and their support staff serve Pierce County well,” he said.
When asked Monday about the numbers that showed improvement in response times now compared to when his office last managed 911, Bennett said the numbers still didn’t change the fact his office wasn’t notified.
“I am using 911’s own numbers that says there response times are worse now,” he said. “My office never missed a call when the sheriff’s office was in charge of 911.”
No final decision on 911 was made at the commission meeting.
Mattox asked if the sheriff’s office was prepared to take care of dispatching.
“We are ready. My capable staff is ready to do whatever is needed,” he said.
