Changes coming to 911
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The UCT System cost the taxpayers in the neighborhood of $2,000,000,000.00. That's right.....2 BILLION dollars!
It is NOT effective. It is plagued with trouble. It is one of the reasons that the administration is leaving the cupboard bare for the next mayor.
Like a skilled magician practicing misdirection, the mayor points to the public sector workers and cries that their excessive contracts are the cause of the city coffers being empty while his administrations reckless IT expenditures have wasted BILLIONS....while not improving services one iota!
It is not the meager sips from the municipal reservoir that the active and retired police officers, firefighters, carpenters, sanitation workers, mechanics, steamfitters, electricians, plumbers, schoolteachers or any other public sector worker took individually or collectively that caused the drought, it was (and continues to be) the lousy design of the almost collapsed dam and the willingness to pour BILLION$ into almost any wasteful and possibly corrupt IT fiasco.
http://soa.li/0oHL25O
City's new 911 system crashes for 12 minutes
Help! 911?s in trouble.
12/31/13 can't come soon enough !
It is NOT effective. It is plagued with trouble. It is one of the reasons that the administration is leaving the cupboard bare for the next mayor.
Like a skilled magician practicing misdirection, the mayor points to the public sector workers and cries that their excessive contracts are the cause of the city coffers being empty while his administrations reckless IT expenditures have wasted BILLIONS....while not improving services one iota!
It is not the meager sips from the municipal reservoir that the active and retired police officers, firefighters, carpenters, sanitation workers, mechanics, steamfitters, electricians, plumbers, schoolteachers or any other public sector worker took individually or collectively that caused the drought, it was (and continues to be) the lousy design of the almost collapsed dam and the willingness to pour BILLION$ into almost any wasteful and possibly corrupt IT fiasco.
http://soa.li/0oHL25O
City's new 911 system crashes for 12 minutes
Help! 911?s in trouble.
12/31/13 can't come soon enough !
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911 dispatcher LAUGHED during fatal stabbing call ? then passed along bad info to cops, tapes reveal
?By KIRSTAN CONLEY
?Last Updated: 10:26 AM, June 7, 2013
?Posted: 3:01 AM, June 7, 2013
EXCLUSIVE
A 911 dispatcher was caught on tape laughing about a call for a Brooklyn stabbing ? then passing along bad information to cops that allowed the victim?s body to rot for days in a basement apartment.
The woman found it hysterical that a mental patient ? whose shrink had just called in the potential murder ? wasn?t sure whether he had imagined stabbing his girlfriend or if it really happened.
911 tapes show that a dispatcher passed along bad information about a fatal Brooklyn stabbing - and even laughed during the initial call.
?This man said that he had a dream that ? I can?t even talk right now,? the woman chortles on a recording obtained by The Post.
But the dream turned out to be real, cops say.
Ronald Friedfertig was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stabbing Yvonne Geffner to death in their Midwood apartment.
A note left behind said, ?She was casting spells on me.?
The shrink made the 911 call on May 30, but Geffner?s body wasn?t found until four days later, when neighbors reported a stench.
?[The call center] got a call for a person possibly stabbed inside a home,? a law-enforcement source said. ?The door should have been taken down.?
But cops weren?t told that no one had seen the woman in a week ? or that the man?s psychiatrist made the call ? so they just knocked and left when no one answered, a source said.
NYPD brass are furious. ?They are pissed, and they?re trying to get to the bottom of it,? a source said.
Friedfertig initially told his brother, Menacham, he had a vision that he stabbed Geffner.
Menacham then told the shrink, Noam Koenigsberg.
?He?s not sure if it was real or if it was a dream, but no one has been able to reach [the victim] since,? the doctor told one dutiful 911 operator, Vera McFarland.
McFarland accurately and professionally took down the information and said, ?I just hope that it?s not true, but you never know.?
She passed the information to the childish dispatcher, who could barely contain herself, saying the report was ?crazy.?
She told a cop no assault had occurred and even mixed up the victim and suspect, mistakenly telling police a hospitalized man wanted his home checked because he dreamed he was attacked there.
By the time cops busted down the door, Friedfertig was already in a mental hospital after throwing himself in front of a Q train.
He?s awaiting arraignment on murder charges as he recovers at Kings County Hospital Center.
An NYPD spokesperson said that the allegations against the dispatcher are being investigated.
Additional reporting by Dan MacLeod
?By KIRSTAN CONLEY
?Last Updated: 10:26 AM, June 7, 2013
?Posted: 3:01 AM, June 7, 2013
EXCLUSIVE
A 911 dispatcher was caught on tape laughing about a call for a Brooklyn stabbing ? then passing along bad information to cops that allowed the victim?s body to rot for days in a basement apartment.
The woman found it hysterical that a mental patient ? whose shrink had just called in the potential murder ? wasn?t sure whether he had imagined stabbing his girlfriend or if it really happened.
911 tapes show that a dispatcher passed along bad information about a fatal Brooklyn stabbing - and even laughed during the initial call.
?This man said that he had a dream that ? I can?t even talk right now,? the woman chortles on a recording obtained by The Post.
But the dream turned out to be real, cops say.
Ronald Friedfertig was arrested Wednesday for allegedly stabbing Yvonne Geffner to death in their Midwood apartment.
A note left behind said, ?She was casting spells on me.?
The shrink made the 911 call on May 30, but Geffner?s body wasn?t found until four days later, when neighbors reported a stench.
?[The call center] got a call for a person possibly stabbed inside a home,? a law-enforcement source said. ?The door should have been taken down.?
But cops weren?t told that no one had seen the woman in a week ? or that the man?s psychiatrist made the call ? so they just knocked and left when no one answered, a source said.
NYPD brass are furious. ?They are pissed, and they?re trying to get to the bottom of it,? a source said.
Friedfertig initially told his brother, Menacham, he had a vision that he stabbed Geffner.
Menacham then told the shrink, Noam Koenigsberg.
?He?s not sure if it was real or if it was a dream, but no one has been able to reach [the victim] since,? the doctor told one dutiful 911 operator, Vera McFarland.
McFarland accurately and professionally took down the information and said, ?I just hope that it?s not true, but you never know.?
She passed the information to the childish dispatcher, who could barely contain herself, saying the report was ?crazy.?
She told a cop no assault had occurred and even mixed up the victim and suspect, mistakenly telling police a hospitalized man wanted his home checked because he dreamed he was attacked there.
By the time cops busted down the door, Friedfertig was already in a mental hospital after throwing himself in front of a Q train.
He?s awaiting arraignment on murder charges as he recovers at Kings County Hospital Center.
An NYPD spokesperson said that the allegations against the dispatcher are being investigated.
Additional reporting by Dan MacLeod
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Maybe if an Alarm Box (hopeflly it was working ) was used the response time could have been cut in half........ http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/183428/fdny-cites-human-error-in-fatal-crash-response
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Lots of noses growing at this hearing..... http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/184225/city-to-council--full-probe-of-911-call-center-glitches-underway?ap=1&MP4
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UCT Debacle report in The Chief......In a scathing series of draft reports, the outside consultants hired by Mayor Bloomberg to review his 911 system overhaul found in 2011 that the system initiated two years earlier�which is still in use today�was �dangerous� to citizens and first-responders, and that it introduced �new, unacceptable risks� for them.
The report, produced by Winbourne & Costas, was especially harsh about the Unified Call Taking system, a portion of the overhaul that reassigned all calls�including fire emergencies�to NYPD dispatchers, who now forward information to the Fire Department electronically. The fire unions obtained the Winbourne drafts last week after suing for them as part of a public-safety challenge to UCT before the Board of Collective Bargaining.
A Mess From the Start
While the consultants maintain that a properly-implemented UCT program can significantly improve emergency response, they said the city�s version failed because it was poorly planned, inefficiently run, and lacked a clear command structure.
Major errors in the new system�s electronic mapping of city addresses posed a �significant risk to successful public-safety operations,� the consultants said. They confirmed the fire unions� repeated complaints that wrong addresses, unclear information, and miscoding of incidents have hampered the efforts of FDNY responders since the revamp.
The authors also echoed complaints by Fire Alarm Dispatchers Benevolent Association President Faye Smyth, who told THE CHIEF-LEADER last year that her members were inundated with extra computer screens� worth of information. Ms. Smyth said the extraneous notes, which are poorly organized, hampered response efforts during Hurricane Sandy.
The Winbourne report found that under UCT, Fire Dispatchers saw a 124-percent increase in informational screens, and that �the design and configuration of the UCT interface does not meet the requirements that allow for Fire Dispatch to operate in an efficient and accurate manner.�
Faults Police/Fire Schism
Earlier versions of the report, which was revised several times during the summer of 2011, were damningly worded, though later versions were also harsh. In notes prepared in April 2011 for Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, the authors called UCT �a complete failure,� and wrote, �The dysfunctional relationship between NYPD & FDNY concerning the 9-1-1 system is dangerous to everyone and requires immediate attention.�
�NYPD thinks they own the 9-1-1 system,� the authors added, calling for teamwork between the two agencies and proper governance between them.
The consultants also contended that dispatchers weren�t trained properly, writing that two years after the overhaul, �no person from either dispatch center understands how the UCT interface works.�
�In this case, a huge waste of tax revenue was expended on a failed project,� they concluded.
Later drafts were somewhat more diplomatically phrased, but by August 2011, the consultants still described the UCT system as creating �new unacceptable risks for both first responders and citizens that have yet to be resolved.�
Blue, Red and Redundant
Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks prompted experts to recommend better collaboration between city first-responding agencies, the consultants wrote that there was �little to no collaboration and cooperation� between the NYPD and FDNY, either during normal daily 911 operations or during major crises. They said that response times were increased by a �disorganized� system that often left NYPD and FDNY operators performing redundant operations.
The authors also slammed the city for its financial management of the project. In a June draft, they said the UCT system �fail[ed]� in part because the administration didn�t properly plan for the change. The Mayor failed to do a cost-benefit analysis or return-on-investment research before the project was implemented, they said, and didn�t identify any baseline performance standards to measure the new system against.
They faulted the city for consulting expert contractors and then refusing to follow their recommendations, and accused the administration of providing statistical analysis to demonstrate the success of the project that were �erroneous and provide[d] no value regarding the effectiveness of UCT-related business processes.�
�No Meaningful Analysis�
�In essence, over $19 million was spent on the UCT project without exploring any of the available options in advance,� the consultants wrote in one of the last of many drafts, which totaled more than 5,000 pages altogether. They added that �had any meaningful operational analysis been completed,� the city could have avoided many of the pitfalls.
An FDNY spokesman declined comment on the report, but Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Alexander Hagan said that none of the report�s recommendations had yet been implemented.
�Our entire organization feels vindicated in our quest to expose the truth,� he said. �We knew [UCT] was dangerous for our members. I�m positive that it also jeopardizes the lives of our brave police officers and not least, it seriously jeopardizes the safety and lives of the citizens. And if for no other reason than our ability to finally expose that, we are we�re extremely gratified that we didn�t give up the pursuit.�
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy, who led the fight to obtain the report, said, �Starting in 2011 the Bloomberg Administration denied this taxpayer-funded report existed. The UFA fought for two years to force the administration to produce the report because it highlights the numerous flaws in the 9-1-1 system. The report shows that the Fire Commissioner�s testimony to the City Council over the past four years, in relation to response times, has been rendered false.� * *
Mr. Bloomberg ordered the 911 system revamped after an August 2003 blackout, when a lack of backup power left the city�s four emergency call centers incapable of handling a flood of extra calls. Fire, Police, and EMS dispatchers are now all located in a single Brooklyn building, with a backup center still to be completed.
Exposed by Blizzard
During the Dec. 26, 2010 blizzard, however, the system failed to handle the high volume of emergency calls, prompting the Mayor to order the consultant�s report.
He released a final version to the public in May 2012, which was critical of the UCT system but was then widely rumored to be sanitized. A Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel in April ordered the earlier drafts released to the fire unions in their entirety.
The report, produced by Winbourne & Costas, was especially harsh about the Unified Call Taking system, a portion of the overhaul that reassigned all calls�including fire emergencies�to NYPD dispatchers, who now forward information to the Fire Department electronically. The fire unions obtained the Winbourne drafts last week after suing for them as part of a public-safety challenge to UCT before the Board of Collective Bargaining.
A Mess From the Start
While the consultants maintain that a properly-implemented UCT program can significantly improve emergency response, they said the city�s version failed because it was poorly planned, inefficiently run, and lacked a clear command structure.
Major errors in the new system�s electronic mapping of city addresses posed a �significant risk to successful public-safety operations,� the consultants said. They confirmed the fire unions� repeated complaints that wrong addresses, unclear information, and miscoding of incidents have hampered the efforts of FDNY responders since the revamp.
The authors also echoed complaints by Fire Alarm Dispatchers Benevolent Association President Faye Smyth, who told THE CHIEF-LEADER last year that her members were inundated with extra computer screens� worth of information. Ms. Smyth said the extraneous notes, which are poorly organized, hampered response efforts during Hurricane Sandy.
The Winbourne report found that under UCT, Fire Dispatchers saw a 124-percent increase in informational screens, and that �the design and configuration of the UCT interface does not meet the requirements that allow for Fire Dispatch to operate in an efficient and accurate manner.�
Faults Police/Fire Schism
Earlier versions of the report, which was revised several times during the summer of 2011, were damningly worded, though later versions were also harsh. In notes prepared in April 2011 for Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, the authors called UCT �a complete failure,� and wrote, �The dysfunctional relationship between NYPD & FDNY concerning the 9-1-1 system is dangerous to everyone and requires immediate attention.�
�NYPD thinks they own the 9-1-1 system,� the authors added, calling for teamwork between the two agencies and proper governance between them.
The consultants also contended that dispatchers weren�t trained properly, writing that two years after the overhaul, �no person from either dispatch center understands how the UCT interface works.�
�In this case, a huge waste of tax revenue was expended on a failed project,� they concluded.
Later drafts were somewhat more diplomatically phrased, but by August 2011, the consultants still described the UCT system as creating �new unacceptable risks for both first responders and citizens that have yet to be resolved.�
Blue, Red and Redundant
Ten years after the Sept. 11 attacks prompted experts to recommend better collaboration between city first-responding agencies, the consultants wrote that there was �little to no collaboration and cooperation� between the NYPD and FDNY, either during normal daily 911 operations or during major crises. They said that response times were increased by a �disorganized� system that often left NYPD and FDNY operators performing redundant operations.
The authors also slammed the city for its financial management of the project. In a June draft, they said the UCT system �fail[ed]� in part because the administration didn�t properly plan for the change. The Mayor failed to do a cost-benefit analysis or return-on-investment research before the project was implemented, they said, and didn�t identify any baseline performance standards to measure the new system against.
They faulted the city for consulting expert contractors and then refusing to follow their recommendations, and accused the administration of providing statistical analysis to demonstrate the success of the project that were �erroneous and provide[d] no value regarding the effectiveness of UCT-related business processes.�
�No Meaningful Analysis�
�In essence, over $19 million was spent on the UCT project without exploring any of the available options in advance,� the consultants wrote in one of the last of many drafts, which totaled more than 5,000 pages altogether. They added that �had any meaningful operational analysis been completed,� the city could have avoided many of the pitfalls.
An FDNY spokesman declined comment on the report, but Uniformed Fire Officers Association President Alexander Hagan said that none of the report�s recommendations had yet been implemented.
�Our entire organization feels vindicated in our quest to expose the truth,� he said. �We knew [UCT] was dangerous for our members. I�m positive that it also jeopardizes the lives of our brave police officers and not least, it seriously jeopardizes the safety and lives of the citizens. And if for no other reason than our ability to finally expose that, we are we�re extremely gratified that we didn�t give up the pursuit.�
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Steve Cassidy, who led the fight to obtain the report, said, �Starting in 2011 the Bloomberg Administration denied this taxpayer-funded report existed. The UFA fought for two years to force the administration to produce the report because it highlights the numerous flaws in the 9-1-1 system. The report shows that the Fire Commissioner�s testimony to the City Council over the past four years, in relation to response times, has been rendered false.� * *
Mr. Bloomberg ordered the 911 system revamped after an August 2003 blackout, when a lack of backup power left the city�s four emergency call centers incapable of handling a flood of extra calls. Fire, Police, and EMS dispatchers are now all located in a single Brooklyn building, with a backup center still to be completed.
Exposed by Blizzard
During the Dec. 26, 2010 blizzard, however, the system failed to handle the high volume of emergency calls, prompting the Mayor to order the consultant�s report.
He released a final version to the public in May 2012, which was critical of the UCT system but was then widely rumored to be sanitized. A Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel in April ordered the earlier drafts released to the fire unions in their entirety.
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The real shame of this issue on both Fire & EMS & Emergency runs is that years ago when most alarms were recd via a Pull Box (they ALL worked back then)we recd the alarm over the bells & responded to an intersection... we responded in mass to a crapshoot..... rolling in on Fires... stabbings...shootings ...fights...childbirths...MVAs w/& W/out a pin...bldg collapse's...Transit emergencies... car Fires...etc etc ad Infinitum w/out knowing what it was you were going to turn the corner & be involved with....that was the system back then...you did not know what you might be confronted with & that was the accepted practice w/the technology at hand then....fast forward to the 2000's ....when state of the art communications info should be available (remember we put a man on the Moon back in '69) we are strapped w/the 2013 debacle that is in place today...this IMO is bordering on criminal & the spin doctors always have a BS answer.
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