DC Council Members Question Unified 911 Center

OUC Acting Director Karima Holmes couldn't testify due to an “urgent family emergency,” committee Chairman Charles Allen (D) announced three hours into the hearing, just before Holmes was scheduled to speak. The OUC leader planned to provide recorded testimony and have staff answer questions, said Allen: The committee will quickly reschedule so Holmes can give testimony and answer questions. The committee decided it would be better to wait until Holmes is “able to be present to answer questions in addition to her testimony,” Allen’s Deputy Chief of Staff Erik Salmi emailed us later. OUC didn’t comment.

Wednesday's meeting wasn't a confirmation hearing. Bowser formally submitted Holmes’ name to the council on Sept. 16 (PR24-0924). It's under council review and will be deemed approved Dec. 20 without council action. Holmes was director 2015-2021. Earlier this year, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) returned Holmes to the agency as acting director.

D.C. 911 could need “more systemic reform” than auditors recommended, said Council Member Mary Cheh (D). OUC currently handles police, fire and medical emergency calls, but a 2019 pilot looked at letting Fire and Emergency Services handle the fire and medical calls, which are a much smaller percentage of calls than those for police, noted Cheh. The council member heard the pilot was a success, but there was no follow-up. Council Member Elissa Silverman (I) agreed breaking up OUC should be explored. "Perhaps we need to rethink” having each call taker be “a generalist.”

“I’m incredibly frustrated,” said Chairman Charles Allen (D), seeking an OUC cultural shift to more transparency. Repeated instances of “blown addresses” and other problems “tells me that something’s wrong” and shows “a lack of leadership,” he said. The audit paved a path forward, but problems continue almost a year later, noted Allen. “Why haven’t these changes been made?” If an incident happens, OUC should alert oversight bodies without being asked, proactively conduct internal investigations, contact victims’ family members and prepare to speak to the press, he said. The committee got no response from OUC to the committee’s information request for details on four recent incidents and other information, Allen said.

OUC “failed because it is too big,” said Billie Shepperd, mother of a 59-year-old woman who was in cardiac arrest and died while her 13-year-old daughter was on the phone with 911 as responders went to the wrong address (see 2011130053). Shepperd urged council members to “perform basic … oversight.” No one -- not OUC, the mayor, council members or others' from the government -- ever contacted her family after the failure, said Shepperd, saying her granddaughter remains devastated by what happened. “I ask that you seriously look at these issues. When people are noncompliant and do not do their job, that is disgraceful.” It “might hurt PR in the short term” but could prevent future repeats, she said.

It’s “disturbing” that, after two years, Shepperd got no explanation for why responders went to D.C.’s Northwest instead of Northeast quadrant, said Silverman. Shepperd’s granddaughter gave OUC the correct address and the call taker should also have been able to see the correct address from technology in the girl’s cellphone, the council member said. Silverman said the District’s response embarrassed her as a D.C. government official.

A government employees union defended Holmes. Negative blog and media reports about D.C. 911 have made call takers' jobs more stressful, said National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local R3-08 President Debbie Hart-Knox. Holmes has stood by employees and was back in her seat only 30 days when auditors checked back on progress made on last year’s recommendation, Hart-Knox said. “Allow Director Holmes to do her job.” Council members should visit OUC to get a clearer picture, she said. NAGE Federal Division Director Lee Blackmon cited a high-stress, low-morale environment under interim Director Cleo Subido, who served between Holmes’ two stints. Things improved after Holmes returned, Blackmon said.

A unified 911 agency works better than separating who takes different types of calls, said Orleans Parish (Louisiana) Communication District Executive Director Tyrell Morris. Bowser made the right choice bringing back Holmes, who wasn’t “given a fair shake,” he said. Taking 911 calls is a difficult job and humans make errors, said Morris: Celebrate what OUC has done right and don’t set unrealistic expectations. “The people at OUC are heroes.”’

Cheh asked Holmes’ supporters if they were “recruited” for their testimony. No, responded Morris and RapidDeploy Northeast Director Walter Kaplan, who also praised Holmes.

"I hear a lot of defensiveness... but we all have to check our egos at the door," said Joseph Papariello, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 36 executive vice president. One problem he’s seen is it taking many minutes for call priorities to be upgraded to the appropriate level, he said.

"I feel outraged that the death of my father wasn't even enough for changes to be made,” said Aujah Griffin, who said her father died after OUC didn’t prioritize the 911 call. At first, Griffin could accept that mistakes happen, but nobody from OUC called to “own up” to the mistake or say how things would get better, and continuing failures show nothing was learned, she said: “It's no longer a mistake. It's now pure negligence.”