Hialeah councilman wants investigation into city's overburdened 911 call center
MIAMI - A Hialeah councilman is calling for an immediate investigation into what he called an "alarming revelation" into the number of calls missed or abandoned by the city's 911 operators.
"It's totally unacceptable that a city of 223,000 residents with a 400-million-dollar budget not being able to answer every single 911 call," said Hialeah Councilman Bryan Calvo.
Calvo said data obtained from the city's 911 service shows that this year from January 1st to May 31st more than 4,700 calls went unanswered.
"Over 32,000 calls since 2021," said Calvo. His allegation is based on a report led by former Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina. The report highlights a lack of staff and an exodus of call takers.
Calvo said there should be no excuse to miss any call, much less the 32,000 calls missed since 2021, which was first reported by the Miami Herald.
He said part of the problem is salary and staffing.
"The starting salary before this whole process started was $15 an hour for a 911 operator that, by the way, they have to have to a year-long certification, 240 hours, they have to take a state exam," he said.
Calvo said the city's 911 department is budgeted for 21 call takers, but currently only employs six.
He said another issue is that if the call center is inundated with calls, should transfer other calls to the county's 911 center. But that's not happening according to the councilman.
Calvo also pointed to a public comment made at a Hialeah council meeting this past March by a 911 employee "I'm a canary in the cold mine, I've been here for six years and it's been a downhill trend since the first day I got here, and unfortunately we need your help we are very desperate," said Andrew when he addressed the City Council back in March of 2023 asking for drastic and rapid changes for current employees.
"We're severely understaffed and unfortunately a lot of the problem with our staff is retention; we work a 12-hour shift and if we're short we work 16-hour shift and some of those days without a lunch break," said Andrew who underscored the need to create incentives for employees to stay in the 911 emergency unit of Hialeah.
Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo fired back at the claims.
"A local media outlet has erroneously reported on two separate occasions that our City's 911 call center is deficient. As a basis for this dangerous assertion, this media outlet has cited data without any context and used biased sources to fabricate a crisis in (an) attempt to slander this great City," he said in a statement.
"I want to take this opportunity to assure the residents of the City of Hialeah that our 911 Call Center is fully functional and ready to answer any emergency calls that are received."
He then compared his city's 911 call rate to the county's.
"In the year 2022, Miami-Dade County "abandoned" a total of 96,662 calls out of a total of 1,125,069 calls received, a rate of 7.91%. In comparison, the City of Hialeah, "abandoned" 7,849 calls out of a total of 140,161 calls received, a rate of 5.6%. So far in the year 2023, Miami-Dade County "abandoned" 68,127 calls out of a total of 632,222 calls received, a rate of 9.73%. In comparison, the City of Hialeah "abandoned" 5,307 calls out of a total of 73,255 calls received, a rate of 6.76%," he said.
As for the low salary, Bovo said in April said the city 911 operators "their most significant pay increase in 20 years." He said they have received several job applicants for 911 operators and are expecting to receive more in the coming weeks.
Tuesday night the issue is expected to be discussed at city hall; however, it is not clear what solution will emerge since that meeting is the last one before a summer recess.