DC councilwoman blasts 911 call center that drops calls and puts residents on hold

A member of the Council of the District of Columbia slammed the district’s 911 call center for not answering calls and putting residents on hold in emergencies in a Tuesday letter.

Ward 1 Councilwoman Brianne Nadeau accused the Office of Unified Communications, Washington’s 911 call and dispatch center, of “persistent mismanagement of emergencies and lack of transparency” in a letter to the city administrator and OUC director.

Nadeau said she received more calls from her constituents about “disturbing 911 incidents” over 10 days in May than she typically does in a year.

“On May 11, 2024, [a] constituent called 911 to report multiple gunshots in her neighborhood,” she wrote. “The caller received the automated ‘please do not hang up’ message, was put on hold, but the call eventually dropped. The caller attempted four more times to call for help but could not get through.”

Nadeau said OUC has a history of dispatching emergency services to the wrong addresses, misdirecting or not answering calls, and failing to prioritize emergencies.

The agency has long been under fire for failing to respond to 911 calls properly.

Last year, OUC’s former director filed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that under Mayor Muriel Bowser, the city “repeatedly sought to conceal errors and mismanagement by OUC and to downplay serious, life-threatening — and often fatal — mistakes.”

Nadeau said OUC failed to respond to her staff on numerous occasions, mischaracterized the number of agency mistakes in its April performance report, and broke the law by refusing to release its daily staffing statistics.

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“Even if the Mayor downplays the agency’s deficiencies and allows for obfuscation, I remain committed to holding OUC accountable until significant improvements are made,” she wrote.

Nadeau requested the agency’s daily staffing statistics for the past two years, an updated list of agency mistakes, changes to address systemic failures, and a private briefing with the city administrator.