Editorial: No room for errors in 911 calls

With the new $10 million computer system that Allegheny County 911 dispatchers are being… With the new $10 million computer system that Allegheny County 911 dispatchers are being trained to use, responding to and processing 911 calls will be faster and more efficient. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the new features include upgraded satellite imagery which will allow dispatchers to pinpoint units who are closest to an emergency site. The system also provides a quicker connection to the in-car laptops of police, fire and ambulance response teams.

The system’s implementation later this summer will also see faster processing of calls. Emergency calls from the city will be answered directly by a city call-taker, whereas before they could be answered by a suburban call-taker and then transferred to a city call-taker.

But even with these new tools, emergency responders’ record shows they aren’t infallible. When Richard Poplawski allegedly shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers last year, tragedy might have been averted if the 911 dispatcher relayed that the suspect was armed.

Amid the mayhem of the recent “snowpocalypse,” a Hazelwood man died after multiple calls to 911 yielded no aid. Snow-covered roads and a very busy call center contributed to the delay, but the resulting death made excuses difficult to hear.

911 workers aren’t guardian angels. They’re only human. While this new system and equipment — assuming dispatchers and other workers are adequately trained — should improve performance, there’s an unavoidable truth: Humans can make mistakes and exercise poor judgment, especiallly in such high-pressure scenarios. To erase human error would be the real answer, but that would be nothing short of a miracle.