PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The tumultuous year in Portland has not only had a major impact on health care providers and frontline workers — 911 dispatchers have also endured the unprecedented challenges of 2020.
Between the pandemic, nightly protests, wildfires and an 82% increase in shootings across Portland, emergency calls have increased exponentially. In December 2019, the Bureau of Emergency Communications had nearly 78,000 total calls (emergency and non-emergency.)
In August 2020, they had more than 94,000 calls.
Officials told KOIN 6 News staffing had already been an issue, but the pandemic has obviously made it worse.
“Pretty much everyone on the floor is running at some level of stress,” said Senior Emergency Communication Dispatcher Jeanette Hopson.
Hopson said callers are having to wait longer than normal. Even worse, fewer police officers are available to respond to each call. She said both departments need more staff to handle the call volume they’re taking on.
“It’s hard to tell someone with a legitimate emergent need that you don’t know when you’re going to get help to them,” she said.
Both departments need more staff to handle the call volume they’re seeing right now, she said.
“We’re a resilient work group, but you’re tired, you’re dealing with mandatory overtime, you’re dealing with angry callers, you’re trying to give callers an answer for why they have the delays and they don’t want excuses.”
But the problem can’t be fixed overnight. Hiring more 911 dispatchers won’t solve the issue if there still aren’t enough people to respond to the calls.
