Fort Worth (1080 KRLD) - Some people in Fort Worth are having problems getting through to 911, and the city's police chief is working to rectify the situation.
"No one should call 911 and feel like no one cares on the other end of the line," says Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes. "We want everybody that calls Fort Worth 911 to know that there's somebody on the other end of the line that's going to answer that does care, and their problem is a priority to us and we want to help them take care of it."
Some people are saying that when they call 911, they're being greeted not by an operator, but by a recording.
Others say they're being put on hold for several minutes.
Noakes blames the issue on staffing shortages.
"We've seen with the airline industry, we've seen with the hospitality industry, we've seen with other police departments in the area that they're finding very difficult to find the right number of qualified candidates to apply for the job, pass our background investigations and actually become part of the team," says Noakes.
The department is taking immediate steps to get 911 call centers fully staffed.
"We're reaching out to recent retirees to come back on a part-time basis," says Noakes. "We're reaching out to other first responders agencies to hire some of their communications employees to come work with us as well."
The department is also expediting the background check process for applicants.
"Currently, it could take a few months to get everything done, as far as the background investigation," Noakes says. "But we want to get that down to a month or less."
Other steps include mandating overtime for call center operators and having officers currently unable to work in the field staffing call centers.
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