Story Created:
Sep 17, 2008 at 6:27 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Nov 21, 2008 at 2:25 AM PDT
Kern County Sheriff Department dispatchers typically handle around 1,400 calls to 911 per day.
But current staffing levels fail to meet federal guidelines of answering an emergency call says a just released Kern County Grand Jury report.
In other findings, statistics provided to the Grand Jury found there were 581 incoming calls taking from one to two minutes to be answered in March and April of 2008.
There are 42 positions authorized for dispatchers and 22 are currently assigned.
Kern County Under Sheriff Marty Williamson says the department has already takes steps to remedy the situation. Williamson says enough dispatchers are in training with only four vacancies left to fill.
Williamson says the Grand Jury report isn't clear about dispatchers taking up to two minutes to answer a call. He says if a call is not an emergency, the caller is asked to wait on the line.
Williamson says if a caller says it's an emergency, then the call is answered immediately.
Should the Sheriff's Department still be found to be out of compliance after adding more dispatchers, Williamson says the department may have to ask for more funding from the Kern County Board of Supervisors.
