The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "emergency dispatch response times" ...
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Addressing 911
It all started with a tip from people on the front lines, and quickly unraveled into a story that has sparked much needed oversight of Ingham County's new consolidated 911 center. The center merged two 911 dispatch centers into one back in June of 2012. In October, a group of first responders approached Reporter Ann Emmerich with alarming concerns about problems within the system. They believed at least two deaths could be connected to delayed response times because emergency crews were sent to the wrong address. They also believed county officials were trying to "cover up" the problems. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Ann Emmerich began digging into records from the 911 Dispatch Center. She obtained documented complaints from the Lansing Fire Department, call logs from the dispatch center, and time stamped recordings of 911 calls. Just days after Emmerich made those FOIA requests, Lansing's Mayor announced he would form a task force to investigate concerns with the County's 911 Center. At the time, there was no advisory board in place to oversee the center. Once officials went public with the formation of a task force, the original board that worked to establish the 911 center was brought back together to begin oversight.
Tags: broadcast; 911; FOIA; 911 center
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EMS Taxi: Health Care Dysfunction on Wheels
An analysis of the public records database found that Cleveland residents were calling 911 to be picked up by Emergency Medical Service ambulances for minor ailments. This is because dispatchers can't say no. The result is that response times are slow and the transportation is a high cost for the city.
Tags: transportation; emergency medical services; Medicaid; Medicare; Metrohealth Medical Center; Cleveland; ambulance; 911; database; health; medicine;
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A 911 Emergency
A WISH-TV (Indianapolis, IN) investigation exposed a public safety crisis resulting from a shortage of 911 operators. Inadequate staffing led to emergency calls being placed "on hold." Delays in answering led to delays in responding to emergencies. In addition, use of cell phones and computer-based phones adds to the response time as they do not provide dispatchers with the caller's location. Without this information, dispatchers are unable to determine where to send help. Reporters also looked at the historical problem of agencies not being able to "talk" to each other directly.
Tags: emergency dispatch systems; emergency dispatch response times; cell phone; 911; emergency dispatcher burnout; public-safety communications; Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, APCO; enhanced wireless 911; Voice over Internet Protocol; VoIP; TTY; public safety answering point; PSAP; telecommunications; multiple line telephone system; MLTS; PBX-MLTS; National Association of State 911 Administrators; NASNA; Metropolitan Emergency Communication Agency; MECA; failsoft; Motorola
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Response times can vary widely
This series by the Poughkeepsie Journal investigates the varying response times for ambulances to arrive at the scene of a medical emergency. By performing a data analysis of each county's 911 calls, the story identified other factors of slow response time, including location and availability of volunteers. Farmer recommends that other journalists interested in performing a similar investigation to "visit dispatch call centers in order to become familiar with how these calls are handled and dispatched."
Tags: response times; Department of Health; 911 dispatch calls
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Rescue Roulette
"Tucson Fire Department ambulances failed more than half the time to reach emergencies within the eight-minute goal recommended by a national industry group". Other ambulance operators missed the target too. The Arizona Daily Star requested and obtained CAD (Computer-aided Dispatch) database of emergency medical runs from the city of Tucson, which allowed them to map the average response times by each quarter-mile section of the city.
Tags: ambulances; emergency; fire department; paramedics; dispatchs
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Six Minutes To Live or Die
This USA Today investigation finds that emergency medical systems in most of the nation's 50 largest cities are fragmented, inconsistent, and slow. The found three major reasons that emergency services in most U.S. cities are saving so few people in life-or-death situations. Many cities' emergency services are undermined by their culture...disagreements and turf wars between fire departments and ambulance services cause deadly delays. Most cities don't measure their performance effectively..if at all. So they can't determine how many lives they're losing, and therefore can't find ways to increase survival rates. Finally, many cities lack the strong leadership needed to improve emergency medical services.
Tags: Medical emergency; paramedic; emergency services industry; statistics; false statistics; response times; 911 dispatch centers; fire trucks; ambulances; EMS; Mayo Clinic; performance; survival rates; delays
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911 Dispatch
A series of stories exploring what happened in the Anchorage suburb of Eagle River on August 3, 2002, after it took Anchorage police 48 minutes to locate the home of the recently retired state public safety commissioner when he was murdered and his wife shot four times. It was discovered that overworked and undertrained dispatchers, obsolete dispatch technology and poor data management were the key contributors.
Tags: Anchorage; Alaska; EMS; Anchorage police; 911 calls; emergency response time; emergency dispatch system; Patti Godfrey; Glenn Godfrey; Karen Brand
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No title (id: 12619)
The Times reports on a 2 1/2-year - old boy who slipped away, unnoticed from his parents and was found some time later floating in the family's backyard swimming pool. The family called 911, only to have an experienced police department dispatcher mishandle the emergency call and transfer it to a neighboring police department, wasting valuable time. When the ambulance arrived they took the toddler to the hospital, but he died about a day later.
Tags: Marsh Police investigate emergency response Contest entry Medical care 5 pgs.
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No title (id: 8195)
Pittsburgh Press conducts a computer analysis of the police dispatching calls; measures the response time of Pittsburgh police to emergencies throughout the city, and finds that certain neighborhoods receive slow service, Sept. 1, 1991.
Tags: Response times; 911; police; police zones; beats; neighborhoods; dispatch; police services
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No title (id: 5490)
WBBM-TV (Chicago) documents major problems with the Chicago Fire Department's emergency medical system; finds poorly trained ambulance dispatchers, response times as high as 44 minutes, a severe shortage of ambulances, and faulty equipment, April 23 - May 1, 1986.