Oakland unveils new dispatch system in hopes of reducing 911 response times

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on Thursday announced the city is now equipped with an updated computer-aided dispatch system that replaces one that's two decades old. She says the technology will help reduce 911 response times.

"This is a huge win. It's been over two decades since our last investment into our infrastructure," Thao said at a news conference outside the police communications center in East Oakland.

"This is a long time coming. This is an investment into the 911 and CAD technology to ensure that we can get our response times up," Thao said.

The new Motorola system replaced an antiquated system that had the city scrambling for spare parts on eBay when things broke down. The new system has the latest software, said Tony Batalla, Oakland's chief information officer.

"We have their latest and greatest version installed, so we're fully up to date, fully supported by Motorola," Batalla said. "Motorola didn't support the old version anymore, they had phased it out, but they do support the new one."

The city switched over to the new system on the morning of July 30, just hours before a fire ravaged East Bay Booksellers on College Avenue in the Rockridge District. Despite that challenge, the changeover went off without a hitch, officials said.

"Our dispatchers have seamlessly embraced the transition and demonstrated remarkable adaptability to a new system, replacing our old, 20-year-old system," said Gina Cheng, police communications manager.

But there are still signs that dispatchers are dealing with a high call volume.

During a visit Thursday to the dispatch center, KTVU spotted a red sign on the supervisor's window reading, "No 950s citywide."

"950" is Oakland's police code for reports. That sign means callers expecting to have officers come take reports for non-emergencies will be disappointed because officers were only being dispatched to more urgent calls. 

As far as staffing, Oakland has 78 funded dispatcher positions. 

"All of those positions are filled, except for nine. When we came in, there were over 20 vacancies," Thao said.

The city is continuing to recruit dispatchers and working on retaining them once they're fully trained. On-the-job training typically takes at least 40 weeks.

Last year, 911 calls were picked up within 15 seconds only 37 percent of the time. 

"And now, today, we're seeing that those calls are being picked up at 51 percent, between 0 to 15 seconds," the mayor said.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan