Emergency calls for Boone County increase
Communication operators on average receive 193 calls per day.
Published Feb. 5, 2010
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The Columbia Police Department, located at 600 E. Walnut St., has recorded a 0.6 percent increase in emergency 911 calls from 2008 to 2009 and has reached more than 70,000 calls in a year for the first time. Dispatchers did not notice the difference.
The Department of Public Safety Joint Communications reports 911 calls have increased in 2009 in Boone County.
A news release reported 70,288 emergency calls came into the Columbia/Boone County 911 Operations Center in 2009, an increase of 0.6 percent.
PSJC Director Zim Schwartze said the calls represent an average of nearly 193 calls per day for 911 communication operators.
"That breaks down to approximately eight calls every hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Schwartze said.
Schwartze also said when including non-emergency calls or administrative calls, the numbers increases to 1,000 or more calls a day. That's roughly 43 seconds per call.
Although there has been an increase in emergency calls, MUPD Captain Brian Weimer and PSJC Operations Coordinator Donna Hargis said they haven't noticed.
"I don't think that the increase has been that noticeable," Hargis said. "Just your normal day-to-day operation."
Cell phone users account for 65.3 percent of the emergency calls to 911. Schwartze said there is a correlation between growing cell phone users and the increase in call volume.
"The percentage of our 911 calls went up 0.6, but our wireless calls went up 5.3 percent," she said. "That could be a contributing factor to it."
Hargis said she didn't notice the increase in mobile phone callers this year from the floor but agrees they have increased in the volume of calls received.
"Cell phones have been around for awhile," Hargis said. "Initially we saw that increase, but I don't think over the past year we have noticed that much of an increase."
With the growth of call volume, more dispatchers are needed but Schwartze said there won't be any new positions created.
"I'll always be asking for more operators because we do have such a large amount of calls that come through our center," Schwartze said.