Roughly 35,000 emergency calls went unanswered by Boston Police Department dispatchers final yr, a severe lapse one union consultant says is because of an understaffed and overworked operations division.
Operations staff have been ordered to work double shifts, or 16-hour days, three to 5 instances every week for the previous three years, in accordance with Neal O’Brien, senior enterprise consultant for SEIU Local 888.
This typically ends in dispatchers working 90 hours per week, O’Brien wrote in a letter to Police Commissioner Michael Cox.
“Some operations workers have become so fatigued with this abusive work schedule, that in some instances have reached their breaking points and have risen from their chairs unannounced, rifled their headsets to the floor and stated they quit,” O’Brien wrote.
According to the division’s guidelines and procedures, officers are restricted to working 18 hours per day and 90 hours per week, however there may be leeway for supervisors to approve further extra time.
The lengthy hours, ensuing from “understaffing” within the operations division, led to roughly 35,000 unanswered 911 calls final yr. Approximately 650,000 calls had been answered in 2022, O’Brien wrote.
The Boston Police Department didn’t reply to a request for remark.
City Councilor Erin Murphy stated the unanswered emergency calls put the standard of life and security of residents in danger. She additionally pointed to staffing issues within the emergency companies division, which resulted in an absence of ambulance service in sure neighborhoods final weekend.
Further, Murphy spoke of the 911 dispatchers themselves, saying the 90-hour work weeks and 16-hour days are “unsustainable” and “unhealthy.” It’s additionally created a “stressful work environment,” she stated.
“It’s going to force a bigger conversation about, how do we hire and retain and what changes do we need?” Murphy stated. “I know that’s been an ongoing concern for 911 call takers, that something has to give. Something has to change there.”
The criticism from SEIU Local 888, which represents greater than 75,000 members in Massachusetts, follows the same gripe from the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, which alleged three officers had been ordered to work 24-hour shifts final weekend. The Police Department denied this, saying the extra time was voluntary.
“The responsibility for this staffing problem is now squarely on your shoulders,” O’Brien wrote, addressing the police commissioner. “Your human resource department has employed a hiring and retention model over the last three years that is a miserable and redundant failure.”
He added, “There is poor accountability for taxpayer money squandered in this situation between the overtime paid to mandated workers and the overtime paid to the managing superior officers.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”