Laura Munson’s mother waited nearly two minutes for an emergency dispatcher to answer, hoping to hear a human voice on the other end of the line. Laura’s father, Bob, was unconscious and needed an ambulance.
As precious seconds ticked away, her mother hung up and re-dialed 911. Again, the call went unanswered for what felt like far too long.
An emergency dispatcher repeatedly threatened “to shoot everyone at work” if passed over for promotion, according to a complaint filed with the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Meagan Sullivan’s original plan was to be a kindergarten teacher. The idea of teaching children intrigued her.
She lasted two months.
Sullivan, 34, is helping people in another way, working as an Erie County 911 telecommunicator. She sits behind a bank of eight large computer screens at the county’s 911 center in Summit Township, receiving emergency calls from the public, assessing each situation, and dispatching ambulances, firefighters or police to the scene if needed.
The city of Toledo is currently in negotiations with the Willamette Valley Communications Center in Salem for the handling Toledo’s 911 emergency calls in the future.
The city has had its own 911 dispatch center for many years, but staffing shortages and limited funding have made it difficult to keep the center operational.
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that $55 million would be awarded to 57 counties and New York City to bolster the State’s emergency response and communications systems through two grants — a $45 million grant under the State Interoperable Communications Formula Grant Program and a $10 million grant under the Public Safety Answering Point Grant Program. Both grant programs fall under the Statewide Interoperable Communications Grant program, which provides reimbursement of funding to eligible counties in order to improve their emergency communication systems, and allocate funding to further enhance public safety call-taking and dispatching abilities. The combined $55 million is set to deliver upgrades to the State’s public safety answering points and communications system. Funding will assist counties as they buy new equipment, upgrade their technology and improve training, and will encourage the development of Next Generation 911 technologies.
At its foundation, a CAD system functions as the central command for emergency response operations, equipping dispatchers with essential tools to efficiently receive, assess, and allocate resources. Acting as a unified hub, it captures, organizes, and distributes vital incident data—such as location details, caller information, incident classification, and resource availability—ensuring a swift and coordinated response.
