You hope you don’t have to call 911 for an emergency. You hope that if you do have to call, that you will be taken care of as soon as possible. Unfortunately that’s not always the case.
There is a shortage of 911 call takers nationally. Christopher Carver with the National Emergency Number Association tells KTRH that can cause tragedy.
“If 911 does not have a proper amount of call takers, then the time can take longer to get units out,” Carver said.
Jason Spencer with the Harris County Sheriff's office says they are proud of their response times.
“It’s about eight minutes from the time a 911 call taker answers a call to when a deputy actually shows up,” Spencer said.
Joe Laud with the Houston Emergency Center admitted to the fact they see a lot of turnover.
“Rates of turnovers involve retirement and people simply quitting. But that also happens nationwide,” Laud stated.
Earlier this year HPD admitted their response times have become slower compared to what they were in 2013.