click here if you do not wish to receive this publication NO <
This publication is dedicated to & maintained by those of us who really care about this city. We are many --- (and growing stronger with more people joining our ranks everyday). We are the nameless , faceless city, county, state, federal, and corporate taxpaying citizens & workers who are sick of the "good ole boy system" here in Houston, Texas --We were born on 7-30-1999. We are --- married & single-male & female, maintenance worker to Deputy Directors. We are the faceless civil servants who year after year do our job. We are the one's who see the hard earned tax $$s of the citizens in this area used & abused and given away to enrich a few greedy people with each new administration. Our hobbies include: Watching our backs---as we try to bring you the truth of what is happening in Houston, and getting the REAL information out to the public
"you
have come to see us dance for you,
and dance for you we shall,
but the dance that we will share with you,
is a part that we will choose.
our dance will be filled with our inner passion,
fulfilling our expectations alone.
and if this dance isn't pleasing to you,
then you must find a dance of your own
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."-Plato
(All letters and e-mail correspondence become the property of HOUSNITCH and
housnitch.com. Unless otherwise expressly requested, we are entitled to publish
all such correspondence. We reserve the right to edit letters for length and
clarity, and for content that might get us sued, or to withhold their
publication. Views/opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of our editors or
sponsors.)
|
||||||||||
In light of the significant amounts of money involved here, I believe that a complete investigation should be made into this deal, from beginning to end. The taxpayers of this city are being swindled out of millions of dollars. This is criminal.
|
||||||||||
The
911 Call takers receive a call from someone who has dialed 911 they answer the
call 911 do you need police fire or ambulance? Depending on the response the
911 operator transfers them to the appropriate agency they need the 911
operator then types in an entry describing the call and what agency the caller
needed and they are done.
The
Police Call taker receives the 911call from there the call taker has to
interview the caller finding out what the emergency is and get all the
information that they can in regards to the emergency. They need descriptions
of suspects with weapons they need color make and license plate number of any
vehicles involved. They often get calls from a citizen wanting to commit
suicide they have to keep the caller on line while asking someone else to call
the ambulance for them. The call taker often gets burglaries in progress where
a citizen is in their home and someone is trying to break in, they have to
keep the caller on the phone getting all the information as it is happing in
real time. Meanwhile getting the officer in route and keeping him updated so
that he knows what he is can expect when he arrives. All these calls are very
stressful and takes their toll on the call taker receiving them.
The training for a Police call taker requires anywhere from six to eight weeks and then after training is placed next to someone who can help them if they have a problem. Most call takers even after many years of experience still learn new things.
In the up coming merge with 911 the Administration and Houston Police Department have set aside one week of training for the present 911 call takers that are going to be doing the same job as the six to eight week trained call taker. Do you want to be the one calling into that call taker?
At
the present time 911 has what is called an “Incentive Program” which
involves the amount of sick or emergency time taken during a certain period.
If
you use sick time or emergency time you are moved down the list of seniority
when it comes time to bid again for days off and shift!
They
do have an attendance policy they also use against you. Any seniority that you
have is of no use except for vacation and retirement. At HPD our seniority is
Used for everything vacation, days off and shift worked. The plan is to take that seniority away from us and they want us to work under the so-called “Incentive Program.”
When we receive a call from a 911 call taker they are often so horse we cannot understand them they are sneezing coughing and hacking into the phone. They often come to work so sick that they are vomiting into the trash can next to their position, why? Because they are mostly single parents and have bid shifts to accommodate the needs of their family and babysitting needs. But because of the “Incentive Program” they are forced to come to work so that they can meet those needs.
At HPD we have a sick leave policy in place and are dealt with according to that policy. We do not lose our shift or days off or anything else just whatever the policy requires the supervisor to do.
The Houston Fire Department has made MONTHLY runs to the 911 building at 601 Sawyer because of employee’s having chest pains or stress related health problems, where does this stress come from? Not from the type of work they do but because of the Management style being used against them. The records on this can be obtained from HFD showing the number of times the ambulance has been there.
Only on a few occasions has an ambulance ever been to the HPD dispatch and very few if any were stress related either from the job or management related problems. So when comparing the job requirements there is defiantly a problem. What is going to happen to these 911 call takers when they do start taking police calls and at the same time have to deal with this type of management? What will happen to the present HPD call takers? Will we be calling the Medical Examiner? Or are we going to call a body car to take them to a funeral home because they have had a deadly heart attack?
Some other examples of the type of conditions the 911 call takers presently work under are the girl whose mother passed away and 911 would only give one day off for funeral leave? The girl who received a call of her child being ill and having to be taken to the hospital the supervisor telling the call taker if she leaves she will loose her job? These examples can all be verified by talking to the 911 call takers.
Another example of management style that a supervisor of 911 refused to send an ambulance to a traffic accident because the officer who radioed it in did not have enough info, the car had hit a tree and was on fire the officer was trying to save the driver did not have time for detailed description of type of injuries involved. The driver died and do not believe not sending the ambulance was a contribution factor but the main fact the supervisor at 911 refused to even send one unknowing what the situation was. This happened on January 10, 2003 in Kingwood. This supervisor is still on the job at 911.
They gave the 911 call takers a certificate saying they are now TCLOSE certified and according to the information we have they receive did not receive the 40-hour training required by the State of Texas. We believe this is a violation of section 1701.405 issued by the state for TCLOSE certification.
We have attempted on several occasions to resolve these issues and have sent many letters. We have had to go to City Council regarding our paychecks when they changed are payroll to HEC. We have had meetings with the Public Safety and Home Land Security to try and resolve these issues with nothing being accomplished.
We question the present Director Barbara Evans and her back ground in Public Safety. She came from Southwestern Bell and because she has been running a 911-transfer center does not give her public safety background. Her and her Assistant Director Dianne Marks are the ones responsible for the current working conditions at 911. And a remark from Dianne Marks telling us “The Lambs will Silence the Wolves” only infuriates even more!
We also understand that there was a Four Million contingency fund set aside for 911 to use but in December an inquiry found out that there was only Thirty Seven Thousand dollars left. Ms Evans was supposed to account for the missing money we wonder if she has been able to do that?
We also wonder if Mayor Brown is not using the 911 money to subsidize the City budget? We also would like to know what the plan is if a present bill proposed in Austin passes? The one that does not allow 911 entities to use 911 money for salaries? With the present budget situation the way it is what is going to happen to 911?
We need someone to make the citizens of Houston aware of yet another crises on the horizon for the City of Houston and the Houston Police Department. Yes! The Houston Police Department Administration is aware of all this and has done nothing to prevent the up coming situation from happening.
The
call takers of the Houston Police Department have pretty much determined that
if the present conditions continue to exist that they will have no choice but
to look for other careers or go to an agency that appreciates them and does
not treat them like they are slave labor. If we are forced to take those
measures who is going to be left to handle the calls at 911? More untrained,
unqualified dissatisfied stressed out call takers while the management of 911
continue to run the center in a Plantation Slavery Type atmosphere?
At
what cost is this going to be to the citizens of Houston? Or to the police
officers responding to a call that their lives are dependent on the
information provided to them by the call taker? Will it be YOU they are coming
to help?
Will it be you or one of your family members that need an ambulance but the supervisor refuses to send one and therefore it results in a tragic ending?
|
||||||||||
The
Real Issue’s
May 11, 2003
Here
are the actual and real issues that the employees of the Houston Police
Department dispatch division are concerned about and feel that will
eventually lead to real crises. To date none of these issues have been
addressed or discussed with the administration at 911. The
primary reason being they have refused to meet and discuss and are insisting
that we will follow their program and do the job their way.
o The present 911 Operators are not trained to do the job of a Police Call taker. The Police Call Taker usually requires anywhere from 8 to 10 weeks of extensive training by an already experienced and qualified call taker.
o The Senior Dispatcher requires even more extensive training .
o The 911 Operators receive the call asking “Do you need police Fire or Ambulance” ? at which time they transfer to the proper department. They rarely actually interact with the citizen and the actual problem.
o The 911 Center has a policy of allowing a 60 minute a day break for lunch and 2 other 15 minute breaks. If during the 8 hour day you exceed those 60 minutes you are given a written reprimand. This is a great concern for employees who have health issues that may require more trips to the restroom.
o No sick day before or after a City Holiday if so do not get paid for the holiday.
o If your scheduled day off falls on a City Holiday and they determine they need you they will require you to come to work and THEY will schedule you another day off.
o FMLA used as an incident of absentism and used against employee for choosing days off and shift they want to work. I believe this is in violation of Federal Law.
o No regard or respect for Seniority it means nothing except for Vacation bid and retirement. Everything is based on attendence and tardiness.
o There is no respect or regard for the employees of the Houston Police Department that have worked years to achieve the shift and days off they have. They choose these shift to meet the needs of themselves and that of their families. So now that is all gone they do not care that we have worked long and hard to acquire this and we do it for a reason.
o They insist that their so called Incentive Programs work and that the employees like them take a look at their turn over rate for the last 2 months and see how well they were liked. If you can actually talk to an employee working there now and the employee is not threatened or intimidated I am sure they will tell you the “Real” story .
o We do have names and facts of actual incidents and of what is really going on at 911. We understand that the employees of 911 were asked to write letters to City Council expounding on how they like the job and working conditions. We understand that when the employees were hesitant to write such letters there was a Form letter put together by the administration and the employees were asked to sign.
o If a person is sick or late they are reprimanded and when it comes time to change shifts they loose what they have and are placed according to the number of incidents in their file.
o 911 employees were told they were not allowed to join the Houston Police Patrolmens Union which most of the calltakers and dispatchers at HPD already belong . The Union has been instrumental in helping us in this battle and are doing a great job to help us get it straightened out.
We have petitions signed by several of the Officers who have great concerns for their safety and the safety of the citizens. We have asked for help from the Fire Fighters Union who is also concerned about the future of 911 and where this is all going.
We are dedicated and true professionals that have been doing our jobs for years, we have protected the officers and the citizens of Houston with great pride and never thought that the day would come when someone would have such total disrepect for us the employees and the job we do.
We are going to lose employees and we will be short handed being forced to work overtime and extended hours opening the door for mistake and error and will that be at the expense of a citizens or the life of an officer in need of help? Who is going to answer for it?
We have the documentation and all the pleas for help that have been extended to City Council to the Mayor and the Administration of 911 and we also have the responses or lack of response so that when the time comes we will be able to show that we tried and no one listened.
|
||||||||||||
IS SLAVERY ALIVE & WELL AT THE CITY OF HOUSTON?
How do you staff an emergency communications center when your personnel is being overworked, stressed out, and forced to work under less than optimal conditions? The telecommunicators, the lifelines between citizens and the responders to their emergencies, are required to perform a wide variety of demanding and high quality performance tasks that require smooth multitasking, high vigilance, and clear judgement. The telecommunicators must operate complex multifrequency communications systems, visually monitor detailed computer screens, and handle multiple emergency requests while making life and death decisions. In many cases, they are the only resource available until emergency crews arrive at the scene, and they must respond in ways that calm, reassure, and direct the caller. They must ask careful questions and information must be presented in a logical, simple, clear, and sequential manner. All of these requisite skills can easily degrade under the stress and pressure, not because of the nature of the job itself, but under the draconian policies and procedures that the managers and supervisors of the Houston Emergency Center (formerly 9-1-1 City Neutral) have placed their employees under."INCENTIVE PROGRAM"- CODE WORD FOR SLAVERY
How do you get people to come to work when you abuse them and treat them like second class citizens? What keeps them coming back for more? Well being in the emergency services field, everyone realizes the importance of having somebody sitting behind the dispatch microphone and the telephone receiver. But does the public know how much pressure and stress these employees are under? Well instead of the managers and supervisors at the Houston Emergency Center trying to relieve the work related pressure and stress so employees can perform optimally and not leave the profession, they have decided to run, I would characterize it as a sweatshop but employees get to go home eventually, a plantation. The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) conducted a survey by creating a task force, the 9-1-1 Public Safety Communications Center Staffing Crisis Task Force to examine the reasons people leave public safety dispatching. They wouldn’t have had to look far if they would have used the employees at 9-1-1 as their guide. Most, if not all of the employees at 9-1-1 leave not because of salary but because of the working conditions. Our city’s 9-1-1 center uses a system that they disingenuously refer to as an "INCENTIVE PROGRAM." The employees’ work shift selection is not based on any type of seniority as most other city departments use, or even personal preference, but strictly attendance. At the end of a six month period, the employees are ranked by their attendance. The employees are then allowed to select the shift of their choice based on that ranking. In reality, and under closer scrutiny, this "incentive program" forces the employees to come to work, no matter what, under the "penalty" of losing a preferred shift. So what happens if an unexpected and unplanned emergency or illness occurs? Although the city grants their employees all types of leave to use, including sick leave and Family Medical Leave, it still counts against the employee as far as their ranking goes. The employees are still trying to figure out where is the "incentive." The "INCENTIVE PROGRAM" causes the employees to unnecessarily compete against themselves to the point of "snitching" on each other if someone is tardy. The "INCENTIVE PROGRAM" also forces employees to come to work extremely ill to maintain not just acceptable attendance but perfect attendance just to remain on a preferred shift. Healthy employees are very concerned about being infected or afflicted by their fellow employees’ illnesses and ailments, not out of concern for their fellow employees, but for their own interest, which is to stay healthy to come to work.. Now here is where citizen safety and emergency preparedness is being jeopardized:
Obviously these are some serious allegations but it gets worse. The employees are so abused and neglected that their directors, managers, and supervisors feel that they don’t even deserve hot water to sanitize themselves or their equipment that is used by all of the employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week, etc.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE "INCENTIVE PROGRAM"
How many times are the ambulances going to roll out to Sawyer Street to treat and transport sick employees? Is someone going to have to die before the directors, managers, and supervisors realize that their policies and procedures are causing their employees’ previously unknown or very mild health problems to be exacerbated? Under these stressors, otherwise healthy employees have started to experience digestive disorders, heart problems, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Their emotional stability has been compromised and bouts of depression, anxiety, moodiness, and extreme irritability are not uncommon.
How would you like to be told that one of your fellow employees has tested positive for Tuberculosis? Well it happened at 9-1-1. Would anyone expect something like this to not happen with the policies and procedures that are in effect at 9-1-1? How would you like to be told by your administration manager that no one has been at risk although you know that employees are forced to come to work sick and chances are extremely good that the affected employee came to work ill, worked in the same room that you did, breathed and exhaled the same air that you did, used the same computer keyboard, telephone, writing utensils, and stationery that you did, and sat next, behind, in front, or near you while you both held conversations about how miserable the work conditions are at 9-1-1 City Neutral? Why not offer TB skin testing to give the employees a little piece of mind? Why risk spreading the disease to other employees and their families?
BENEFITS AND RIGHTS DENIED
Since employees from time to time are injured and occasionally get pregnant, are their rights being violated as far as the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) apply? Are the rights of older employees being infringed on since shift intolerance increases for people over the age of 40? Are the employees allowed to work either light or modified duty as per doctor’s orders or are they forced to stay away from work until 9-1-1 determines that they are "fully" recovered? Since 9-1-1 uses this "INCENTIVE PROGRAM" to coerce their employees to come to work, one could safely assume that the directors, managers, and supervisors callously disregard any infirmities or disabilities that the employees may have, even those that were obtain through their employment at 9-1-1 and, their program ignores the aging process that all people are subject to. So the answer to the previous questions are a resounding yes. Doesn’t this "INCENTIVE PROGRAM" deny the employees a city issued benefit, namely sick leave, and circumvents the city’s intent to provide this benefit for its employees?
THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE LEAVE
Maybe employees leave the service of 9-1-1 because basically, they want to live. They don’t want to die in the communications center because they are overworked and stressed out. Maybe they are afraid of being wheeled out on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance for transport like their fellow employees on a monthly basis. Perhaps they are tired of trying to do a difficult job, full of not only great responsibility, but tremendous liability, under less than optimal conditions with no consideration for their personal well-being. Maybe the telecommunicators are tired of living under the nightmare of rotating shifts and rotating days off, in addition to the mandatory overtime because 9-1-1 is understaffed (imagine that), that cripples any type of planned family, social, or educational pursuits.
Guess how 9-1-1 does recruit its employees? Lying has always been an effective tool to lure the innocent and unaware into 9-1-1’s clutches and it still works today. Their recruiting safari even trapped some of the Houston Police Department’s best and brightest telecommunicators by promising shifts and off days that 9-1-1 had not even the slightest intention of fulfilling. Numerous employees have left the supervisors’ office in tears because they are not allowed to attend family gatherings, social functions, and scheduled educational classes because of the lies that 9-1-1 told to obtain their services. College students, registered for the semester, were told that they could miss the beginning of their college classes after they paid their tuition, because 9-1-1’s inflexible and arbitrary "INCENTIVE PROGRAM" abruptly and unexpectedly changed their plans.
Employees that have taken funeral leave following the death of a loved one are notified to come back to work as soon as possible although city policy grants bereaved employees enough time off to deal with their loss. Just imagine what a call like that does to an employee’s psyche.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
Besides the obvious, freeing the slaves, 9-1-1 should adopt some of the approaches used by and recommended the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The institute recommends a two-fold approach to alleviating the stress at work. One of the recommendations is for the employee to learn how to "manage" stress, but the second says, "evidence argues for a greater emphasis on working conditions as the KEY source of job stress." Although the directors, managers, and supervisors at 9-1-1 might see their operation as some type of well-oiled machine, the human body is not a machine, and, as has been the case with most, if not all of the employees, it can wear down after a while. Is it any wonder then why 9-1-1 has to lie to attract and retain good people? It obviously takes a special person to become a telecommunicator but it shouldn’t take some type of human cyborg to work for 9-1-1. From APCO’s "9-1-1 Public Safety Communications Center Personnel Recruitment and Retention Best Practices Guide, August 2001," it is recommended that agencies have to also consider and be sensitive to the people working there as well as the needs of the department. One would believe that the directors, managers, and supervisors of an emergency communications center realize that the stress levels in dealing with life or death situations on an on-going basis under the conditions that the telecommunicators work under would drive anyone away from the job. Why would anyone treat employees that routinely provide life-saving medical and personal safety advice and deal with callers that may be distraught, demanding, irrational, suicidal, etc., in such a callous manner. The telecommunicators are responsible for the deployment of numerous public safety resources, and they make informed referrals to a myriad of governmental and community resources. So why are the directors, managers, and supervisors undervaluing the service that these employees provide as well as overworking them? Hmmm, I wonder if there might be some type of bonus or "incentive" for the directors, managers, and supervisors at 9-1-1 to keep the slaves working at any costs, even if it means endangering the lives of the citizens that they serve?
THE DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN
It is an established fact that emergency call taking and dispatching is stressful work under any conditions, but with the current work overloads and not enough time off, the stress load has become unbearable for most, if not all of the telecommunicators at 9-1-1 and the potential for mistakes, miscues, and accidents increases. Base this information on the fact that currently all 9-1-1 primarily does is act as a public safety answering point to answer emergency calls for service and transfer the callers to the appropriate agency to handle the emergency. What is going to happen when 9-1-1 takes on the additional responsibility of actually processing police calls for service which are some of the most difficult and demanding emergency service calls? Combined with the stress of working under the same conditions that cause employees to run away from 9-1-1 screaming, 9-1-1’s current policies and procedures are a recipe for disaster. Besides eventually chasing off highly skilled, trained, experienced and dedicated police telecommunicators from the Houston Police Department who will probably leave en masse for other employment with other agencies simply for better working conditions, those that stay will be subjected to the same inhumane and barbaric policies and procedures that caused 9-1-1 to be understaffed in the first place. As the personnel problems at 9-1-1 continue to grow, more people will leave, causing more people to be hired, and training takes at least a few months. All of us in the emergency communications field hope and pray that someone gets a handle on this before it’s too late and someone dies, whether in the center or on the street, because of the "plantation" mentality of the directors, managers, and supervisors at 9-1-1.
REFERENCES AND CORROBORATION
You can start by asking any telecommunicator, especially the former Houston Police Department telecommunicators, that were lied to when they transferred over to 9-1-1.
You can check the records of ambulance calls made to the 9-1-1 dispatch center for verification of who and when the ambulances were called and for whom.
You can interview any current and former 9-1-1 employee that is sick and tired of working under these conditions and is afraid that their health and well-being is being jeopardized, which in turn, jeopardizes the safety of the citizens of Houston.
You can interview the current telecommunicators at the Houston Police Department who are fearful of working for 9-1-1 once the consolidation of all call taking and dispatch functions culminates with the opening of the Houston Emergency Center.
For comparison how an emergency communications center should be administered to retain employees, try an internet search with the words dispatch staffing problems, dispatch staffing solutions, and dispatcher stress.
To find out what has been attempted to bring these problems to the attention of those who can, should, and better affect some major changes before it is too late, talk to City of Houston Council members Ada Edwards and Annise Parker (Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security Committee). Meetings have been held but personnel issues that will inevitably affect public safety have yet to be addressed.
WE'VE been speaking to a lot of people. Chief Bradford isn't one of them however.
We have left two messages for him....he has not seen fit to call back.
We know of 4 investigations concerning subordination. All 4 charges were filed because workers refused to stay for that second 8 hr shift.
Breaks have been cut from a total of 45 minutes a shift to just 25 minutes...that includes lunch!!!!!!
We have asked for the # of emergency calls sent from Central dispatch concerning workers needing medical attention in that dispatch facility since January of last year...we're still waiting on an answer.
Calls to Ada Edwards were unanswered .
|
||||||||||
To: Ada Edwards
Subject: Seniority
Our Supervisors have asked us to write regarding our concerns about seniority and set days off. I know some people want seniority and some do not I am one of the ones who does want seniority. I have been with 9-1-1 since its start in 1986 and I have seen people with perfect attendance come and go and yet my stability to stay on the job seems to mean nothing. People come in here with less than a year on the job and they are treated as the cream of the crop or at least that is the way I feel.
Here I am with 17 years on the job since the beginning and I cannot get a shift or days off I would like to have. Perfect attendance means nothing! Perfect attendance means nothing if the people do not stay on the job they are here today gone tomorrow and those of us who stay on the job are left to work mandatory overtime because no one stays very long. Is our loyalty appreciated? NO we still get kicked in the bottom.
People come to work sick spreading germs to everyone else, they sit at their positions throwing up in the trash cans or the supervisor tells you go sit at a position that you will not be around so many other employees. Or they tell you to go home knowing that you cannot do that because if you do you will be penalized and loose the shift and days off you presently have.
Out of the 52 people that were hired in 1986 only 4 of us are left on the phone 5 others have moved to different positions. When other employees or myself complain about things we are told IF YOU DO NOT LIKE IT GO FIND ANOTHER JOB! Many do and then we start all over again new employees and on the fire/ems side after they have been thru 2 weeks of training they have to work the day shift leaving us with having to move to evenings or night shift.
I know that as you read this letter you think I do not like my job but quite the contrary I Love my Job. That is the reason I am still working here. I honestly love my job and I will stay here till time to retire even though they tell me to just quit! I am just so tired of working afternoons and night shift.
When they took the 13.20 shifts away from us it was the worst thing they could of ever done when we worked that shift the same as the fire department we got weekends off .We were able to spend time with our families and get a chance to wind down from the stress of the job. They said they had to stop it because they did not have a computer system set up to handle the pay and computing of time however the fire department has the program is willing to let us use it to set up our computers to calculate the time. The other benefit of the 13.20 is you were not as tired all the time. They also told us that because the way the schedule allowed for 5 days off at a time we would forget our skills and not be able to do the job when we came back what kind of logic is that?
Do we forget our skills when we go on vacation? Of course not! We are not idiots we know our jobs. What it did do was give us the time to refresh ourselves and our minds it gave us the ability to come back stress free and happy ready to go back to work. Unlike now where we are FORCED to work 7 or maybe 8 days straight and often FORCED to work overtime on our day off.
Another reason for the change they say was scheduling, on the 13.20 shifts you were able to get your schedule for a complete year. The schedule includes the holidays floating holiday’s personal leave so you combine the days to make a decent schedule to meet your needs and that of your family. As it is now you cannot plan anything you cannot combine anything, as you never know your days off. We have to wait 2 or 3 days before we get a schedule, If you are off you have to call into see when you are to come to work which makes it impossible to make any plans. If you ask in advance what days off do I have?
The answer is we do not know! It is to far ahead of time you will just have to wait to see what the schedule looks like.
We can put in for time off but we very seldom if ever get it! the reason being we are always so short of help. We cannot keep people and it takes forever to hire someone.
And the process starts all over again.
|
||||||||
Some
Examples of 911’s Inefficiency
Enclosed are HPD Call slip numbers of calls received at the HPD communication center from 911 showing how bad the system really is and that now they want to include HPD in their system. They talk about Quality Assurance and how they have supervisors monitor the employees for quality and accuracy? As you see they do not appear to be doing a very good job!
§
The
Incident that happened on January 10, 2003 when HPD officers rolls up on an
accident in Kingwood at 02:16am. Advises HPD dispatcher of accident requests
ambulance and fire trucks a car has hit a pole! At 2:18am HFD supervisor
Jackson advised of what was needed and he responded that only a Pumper would
sent because the HPD dispatcher did not have enough patient information?
Officer is out on the scene the car is on fire and he is trying to save
someone’s life! Only after contacting the Fire Department directly was an
ambulance sent! This 911 supervisor is still on duty!
§
On
12/08/02 call slip #175428702-r 911 relays information on a major accident at
Renwick/Southwest Fwy. They do not intersect? Actual location is Southwest
freeway/Westpark gave no direction of travel unknown if North or South Bound
side of Freeway? Given to us by HFD dispatcher.
§
12/26/02
911 operator calls telling us there is a man that possibly has a gun! He is
somewhere on Northborough at the Arbor Apartments had no other description of
suspect or his actual location? How do we send an officer on a call like that?
One involving a gun? Would you want to be that officer?
§
1/18/03
# 008717003-v 911 transfers a
call to HPD a lady screaming for an Ambulance! Why was it transferred to us at
all? Possible life saving time wasted doing all the transferring!
§
01/19/03
#009024703-e 911 transfers a call giving the location as 7214 West Knoll the
911 operator telling us the location is West Naw? The HPD call taker had to
decipher what they were saying before sending someone?
§
01/09/03
#009164403-x 911 transfers to HPD a lady in a smoking house? Call again had to
be transferred back to HFD? What kind of life saving or home saving time was
lost?
§
02/13/03
#021078403-f 911 transfers a call
to HPD lady yelling she is having a heart attack! Again had to be transferred
back to 911! Again life saving time lost!
§
03/04/03
#030243403-f 911 operator transfers call of road rage on the freeway the
caller mad and wants a unit when asked what the license plate of the other
vehicle is he responds “I gave it to the 911 operator” the 911 operator on
the line the whole time not giving HPD the plate number but after the caller
hangs up calling back and telling the HPD call taker she has the plate
information! Could very well of cost this driver his life and we had no
information on what we are looking for!
§
03/04/03
HPD call taker receives a transfer call from a citizen needing police
assistance when the HPD call taker start to ask the usual questions need to
determine the problem the citizen gets all upset because he has “just
answered those same questions asked by 911”! They are training on our calls
because 911 claims they do not have time to train them any other way!
§
03/13/03
# 034207803-z 911 transfers a
call to HPD for a lady having a High Blood Pressure problems she tells HPD she
does not want police she wants an Ambulance! What kind of information did 911
ask?
§
03/12/03
information only slips 911 transfers a call to HPD for an accident at the
intersection of Kuykendahl/Louetta
clearly not a call for HPD not in our jurisdiction! This call should have been
directly transferred to Sheriffs Department!
§
03/11/03
#033818403-f 911 calls to say that there is an accident and that the drivers
are fighting? HPD never talked to the caller and had no information as to what
all the fight entailed and if there were any type of weapons involved! Again
an officer safety issue!
§
01/17/03
#008169603-h 911 transferred and disconnected a call from a Female screaming
for an ambulance her babies eyes rolled back in it’s head unknown what is
wrong with her? Why was it even given to HPD? Life saving time lost!
§
Caller
said that her 5-year-old son is missing and
she needs to be transferred to Juvenile division but when the officer at
Juvenile gets on the line asking for details and description of child female
responds “she has already gave all that information to 911”? But 911 are
no longer on the line so the process starts all over again! More time wasted!
§
01/06/03
#007696803-l Ladies house is on fire but the call was first transferred to HPD!
For what reason?
While
mistakes will be made some of these calls are just using common sense! Others
are because the 911 call takers a being pressured to get the call and get off
the phone in so many seconds or they get written up! At what cost
is this to the citizens and officers of the city of Houston? How
can a 911 call be measured in time? How can someone’s life be saved by being
rushed or pressured to get off the call as soon as possible! This
not Southwestern Bell! Of course the Administration of 911 does not realize
that because they are OLD
employees of Southwestern Bell! With that same kind of mentality and they are
now in charge of a 911 Emergency Center?
So if something is not done soon to solve these problems we are afraid that the call takers of the Houston Police Department will be put under the same kind of rules and regulations limiting us to the amount of time spent on a call or being worried about getting reprimanded for taking to long on a call while we are trying to save someone’s life or get enough information so that an officer’s life is not in danger!
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
The plan to build a new modern Emergency Communication Building started back in 1997. It was a plan developed by Mayor Lee Brown and Donald Hollingsworth even though the city of Houston did not have the money to build a new building they managed to work out a plan of Lease-Purchase.
The
building was planned and a piece of property was found to build the building.
The actual structure has been completed now for over a year! Now the problem
is that while the building is complete the new
modern equipment inside is not!
The
building is set to open on May 20th 2003, however it has been
learned that the equipment such as
computers, and necessary systems to dispatch police are not! The
computer systems do not work! They are not even ready to be trained on! There
was talk that the original transmission tower was not tall enough and they had
to find a new one asking the Department of Public Safety to donate one of
theirs that is no longer in use. The warranties on the computers have run out
leaving no service contracts for them to be repaired without having to pay for
it!
Who
is the company responsible
for installing, programming and making
sure the system is operable? Is this another inside
contract that was awarded under the table? Were there in fact even
bids taken according to City Policy? There are serious questions about all of
this.
The system is inadequate and there is talk of having to use the present old equipment being used at this time by 911 and the Houston Police Department Dispatch office.
The
question now is what has happened? Who
is behind the planning and direction of this work? Who
is responsible for the waste of money and time? What has this cost the
citizens of Houston and surrounding areas who pay for this thru their monthly
telephone bills?
We
also understand that there was supposed to be $4
million dollars of contingency money put aside but in an audit
conducted
In
December by the Executive Committee of “HEC” there was found to be only $37,000
dollars left! What happened to the rest of it? Ask the Administration
of 911 where the money went and what it was used for? Were they
able to justify the missing money?
Is
it in fact true that the Executive Committee of
“HEC” in a meeting held in March told several of the people
responsible that if they could they would “fire
all of them”?
We
have a $53 million dollar building that cannot be used
efficiently with
the present equipment in place. Who is responsible for this? Are
they going to use a new building
with old equipment?
We are in a time of war and heightened security! How are they going to
be able to handle the situation in time of crises?
Who has the answers?
While
the Grand Opening would appear
to be on the horizon, how Grand
will it in fact be? Are they going to be able to handle emergencies? Are they
going to be able to save lives and dispatch officers and emergency equipment
in a timely life saving manner? Or are they going to wait and see what happens
at the cost of citizens and officers lives? Are you going to be the citizen?
Or is one of your loved ones going to be the officer who is dispatched to a
call with incomplete or inaccurate information? Or the information is not
being updated to keep them informed of the events changing while they are on
their way to the call?
There has been an on going battle between the Houston Police Department Employees and the Administration of 911 in regards to several personnel issues, none of these issues have been resolved at this time. The problem is creating a very divided line between the employees of HPD Dispatch and the employees of 911. This will not be a smooth transition of merging the two organizations; there will be animosity and resentment on both sides.
The
plan for the first six months is to leave the HPD employees as they have been
for years and the 911 employees as they have been for years then in January of
2004 merging the two. By that time 911 will have had time to train their
employees to take police calls and attempt
to do the job done by HPD employees now. The Administration of 911 will then
put into place the “Slave Like”
working conditions that they now force on their employees! These conditions
will then be forced on everyone! If the
present HPD employees do not
like it they will be told to find other employment! Leaving the new
inexperienced, newly trained 911 employees to handle police calls
that have in the past been handled by experienced,
qualified HPD call takers?
Another issue at hand is a bill in Austin relating to the allowable operating expenses of certain 9-1-1 emergency communications districts. Section 772.217 Health and Safety Code is amended to read: Costs of personnel necessary to operate a public safety answering point are not allowable operating expenses of a district.
Meaning that 9-1-1 cannot use their money to pay salaries! So what is the City of Houston going to do then?
We need some help! This is of great concern to the employees of both 9-1-1 and HPD. We are concerned about how this job is going to done and will it be done in an efficient accurate way or will they be forced to do the best they can with what they have?
It is time for someone to take an interest in what is happening! What is taking place with citizen’s money and their safety! Someone needs to look into what is going on and why? How much of this is politics? Why are the people responsible still in place? What going to be done to correct it? It should be of great concern to everyone!
We need the Newspaper, Television and Radio stations to take an interest in this very critical issue. Don’t push it aside or ignore it or when the time comes that something serious does happen someone will ask why was this not looked into before it happened? Will you be able to say we didn’t know? No one told us?
Please Do Something Now!
Radio and television DON'T CARE. (they are all run by politics too) ..that's why this site is up.
|
||||||||||
WELL DARLIN.....WAIT TILL WE GET THROUGH PULLIN ON HER TAIL FEATHERS!!!!!!!!!
|
||||||||||
Going
to Heaven?
In
a recent article written in the City Savvy Mr. Don Hollingsworth writes that
going to the new emergency
call
center is like going to heaven. While the building and new equipment are
really wonderful and we will be able to
assist
the citizens of Houston in their time of need it will be the farthest thing
from heaven to the employees who work there. Especially the employees who
unwillingly are being transferred there because of the merging of Houston
Police, Houston Fire and the 911 communication divisions.
The
Houston Police Emergency Call takers are being told that the fact that they
have worked in the profession for five, ten, or twenty years means nothing
anymore. The fact that they are able to choose a particular work schedule to
meet their needs and the needs of their families, the fact that they have
worked many years paying their dues to get to a place where they can spend
time with their families, to be able to have days off they want and deserve.
It appears it was all for nothing!
Why
is it happening this way? Because the administration of 911 or what is now
know as HEC, has decided that those issues are of no importance and that they
are going to be the boss and run things the way they want to or have been
doing so for the past fifteen years. Doing things their way is all
that matters and nothing else, no consideration for the way we have done
things for the past ten or fifteen years. Not willing to meet with the
representatives that were chosen to negotiate or work out some kind of
compromise that would give us some kind of reward for all of our years of
loyalty and professionalism to the job. Instead, insisting it will be their
way or we can just quit.
We
the Police Call takers are not afraid of change in fact we welcome it! If
anything we want change, we want change in the way we are treated and we want
the respect we deserve. The problem being again we are not being told anything
we are not allowed to meet or discuss the issues with the administration of
911 and the Police Department does not seem to care. They are just happy to
get rid of the financial burden therefore we will no longer be their problem.
What
is going to happen when the Police Call takers for any number of reasons are
not able to meet the policy and procedures that they insist we follow? Such
as:
·
the
single mother who cannot find a baby sitter to watch her child while she is
working rotating shifts or rotating days off.
·
the
mother or dad who is not able to be off on the Christmas Holiday because he or
she no longer has the seniority to be off those special days. Even though they
have worked long and hard and did miss several of those holidays when first
starting out in the profession.
What
is going to happen when they decide they have had enough and they quit to find
a job that is better suited to the job they need or used to have? Who is going
to answer that 911 emergency call? How well will the new person on the line be
able to help the citizen? How long will it take for someone to even answer
that 911 call ??? Will it be you or your family member ? Call takers are the
first point of contact for the public at their greatest time of need. They are
the silent partners,the guiding force for the success of the police, fire and
EMS efforts.
While
the administration of HEC insists that the policies and procedures they are
using are those of the City of Houston, we have our doubts.
Since we cannot meet to discuss them, we are having to research them
individually.
Please
understand our need for help before the situation gets out of hand. We have
avoided the press and television to try and keep this an “in house”
matter. But if this cannot be resolved with meetings and compromise, we will
be forced to take the problem and potential problems to the citizens of
Houston. Do you want to answer to them?
Our
goal is not to cause problems, but simply to get what we feel we deserve.
That is to be considered an important part of the system and to blend
with 911, not always be considered outsiders. Please help us!
Check out this Instant Message we received
while on-line....
*&^%$#@@[10:44 AM]: you on?
*&^%$#@@ [10:48 AM]: What was Don Hollingsworth doing manning the Motorola booth at the National Black Public Administrators annual conference in Fort Lauderdale last weekend?
Aren't they suppliers to City of Houston?
Aren't you not supposed to go to work for a company doing business with the City for ONE year after your departure?
Well it appears that BSL Corp (the guys that Whitmire gave the golf courses to) the folks that built the 911/Fire/Police dispatch Building plans to hire Hollingsworth one year and one day after his
*&^%$#!! [10:49 AM]: departure from the City.
Keep your eyes on him.
Stay well!
WE will be filing a complaint against him .
That's all this time around guys...tell em what you think darlins, we get tired of telling them by ourselves.......
click right there and e-mail them ALL at one time!
HOUSNITCH
********************************************************************
|
|
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action."
-George Washington
