Chief: No ‘Perfect Answer’ After 911 Hold Delays

After multiple Olney residents reported being placed on hold while trying to reach 911 during an April 14 incident involving a reckless driver, Police Chief Bryan Barrett said the city may need to look at adding layers of backup — even as he cautioned there is no simple fix.

At least five residents jammed the County dispatch lines with 911 calls complaining about a driver careening through residential streets chasing another car at about 5 p.m., endangering children and pedestrians. The suspect, Ricky Don Haynes II, was later arrested at his home on North Avenue M.

In an interview following the April 27 City Council meeting, Chief Barrett described the limitations of the current system and outlined one possible approach the city and county could explore to prevent similar situations in the future.

Enterprise: After what happened last week, is there a clear solution to prevent people from being put on hold during emergencies?

Chief Barrett: Well, that would be up to Council. And that’s what we have to discuss and see what’s doable for the community as far as personnel.

Enterprise: Some residents have suggested the city needs its own dispatch. Is that something you support?

Chief Barrett: When I first came here, they were talking about 24hour dispatch. I don’t know that we need 24hour dispatch. But I definitely am open to discuss it… and I’m not (criticizing) Young County (Sheriff ’s dispatch) because 911 is just like any other phone. When your phone rings, you can only answer the call when you answer the call.

Enterprise: What happened during this specific incident?

Chief Barrett: I know on this specific incident, they had a lot of people calling at the same exact time. And of course you want to debrief the caller, so you know what’s going on… and not take half information.

Enterprise: So even in a well-functioning system, calls can still back up?

Chief Barrett: There’s no perfect answer for that because when things happen, just like a tornado or just… any type of major event, people are gonna call… because they want help. And so… that’s something that we just have to address as it comes in.

Enterprise: Have you seen any approaches work elsewhere that might help?

Chief Barrett: Generally, what we did other places is we’d call patrol officers in to man dispatch... We’d have to talk with the sheriff ’s office (about setting this up). That’s something we’ve done in big weather situations in other places.

Enterprise: What would that look like in practice?

Chief Barrett: Divert… not necessarily dispatcher call takers, but call takers that can handle it… so it’s not just going unanswered or on hold.

Enterprise: Why is it so difficult to prioritize calls during those moments?

Chief Barrett: Situationally… you have something like this where it’s critically important… but then you also have someone having a medical emergency… also critically important and there’s no gauging which one’s more important. There’s no right answer for that.

Enterprise: So what’s the takeaway for the city moving forward?

Chief Barrett: You want to do as much as you can with what you have.