Kansas City Council agrees with mayor, passes ordinance pushing to unify 911 dispatch centers
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - On Thursday, Kansas City council members discussed an ordinance pushing to create a unified 911 dispatch center.
Mayor Quinton Lucas is pushing the idea to put all 911 calls under one roof in hopes of improving response times and saving lives.
“I think that’s unacceptable,” said Lucas at Tuesday’s Finance, Governance, and Public Safety Committee meeting of long wait times for callers. “Some people are waiting five minutes, 10 minutes for these solutions.”
The council acknowledges the stories they’ve heard and the information they’ve been given.
“We are still having reports of calls being dropped or long wait times and a solution needs to be developed with the work of the police department,” said Andrea Bough, the Councilwoman 6th District at Large.
Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw shared how the long 911 wait times have personally impacted her and her family.
“I lost a cousin of mine as they were waiting to try to get help to her earlier this year in January,” said Parks-Shaw. “So, I am 100 percent behind this and supportive of us doing whatever we can, taking whatever action we can to address this 911 call delay issue.”
The rest of the council that was present at Thursday’s meeting agreed; the ordinance was passed to push for a unified 911 system.
Now, City Manager Brian Platt will take the idea to the Police Board of Commissioners. He’ll report back to the mayor and city council within 45 days.
Earlier this week, city staff were working on creating this proposal to eventually send to the Board of Police Commissioners.
KCTV5 reached out to the Board for comment but have not heard back at this time.
KCFD released a statement earlier this week saying it supports the decision.
KCPD says the city still needs to address vacancies in its 911 call center to improve services; the department reports 12 call takers and dispatchers currently in training.
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