Calling 911...and being placed on hold?! What MPD is doing to remedy this problem

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- You call 911 and expect an immediate response -- but some in Milwaukee are getting a surprise on the other end of the line. And when seconds count, that surprise could be a life in jeopardy.

Milwaukee's Public Safety Committee has received a number of complaints from people who dial 911...and are put on hold!

"If it's a true emergency, they want the service! They're not too interested in listening to the recording," Alderman Terry Witkowski said.

Here's the 411 on the problem: The Milwaukee Police Department has a minimum of 10 dispatchers on staff at any given time. They're the folks who answer emergency calls, but they also respond to calls that come in on the non-emergency administration line.

"How many times do people get a recording?  I can tell you on my phone call, it was at least a minute's worth," Witkowski said.

MPD officials couldn't say exactly how many people get placed on hold.

"I`d be more comfortable looking at the data to see what we really have," an MPD official said.

However, MPD officials say it only happens when all of the operators are handling calls at the same time -- even if some of them are on the administration line.

The 911 calls, however, do take priority.

"That begins playing after the triaging of the call indicates there is no telecommunicator to answer that call.  It continues playing that call until a telecommunicator becomes available," MPD Chief of Staff Joel Plant said.

MPD Chief of Staff Joel Plant says the recording is nothing new -- but he admits a high turnover of workers coupled with an increased call load in the summer can potentially stress the system.

"Obviously, there are a lot of huge concerns here," Alderman Bob Donovan said.

"Right now, we`re hitting a low spot in terms of our telecommunicators.  We have a class of 19 that are coming on in a couple of weeks which will get us back up to a very robust staffing level," Plant said.

Police officials say the average wait time for a 911 call to be answered is seven to nine seconds.

The Milwaukee Police Department is also bombarded with 10,000 pocket dials or misdials every month.

By law, they must call those numbers back.

The Milwaukee Police Department is planning on looking into its practices and report back to the Public Safety Committee next month.