Last year, Hamilton County 911 telecommunicators were 25 percent faster in answering 911 calls than 2007 – the year before the Hamilton County 911 Emergency Communications District unified communications for almost every public safety response agency within the county.
John Stuermer, 911 director, said at a press conference that five years ago, 72.5 percent of 911 calls were answered within one ring and 2,000 calls were answered after more than 60 seconds.
In 2012, 96 percent of 911 calls were answered within one ring, and only four calls were answered after more than 60 seconds, he said.
Abandoned calls occur when the caller hangs up before a telecommunicator answers. In 2007, 41 percent of abandoned calls disconnected after more than one ring. 2,964 were abandoned after 3 rings while 454 callers disconnected after waiting more than 60 seconds for a telecommunicator to answer.
Mr. Stuermer said in 2012, only one percent of abandoned calls disconnected after one ring, officials said. Of those, only 15 were abandoned after three rings and no caller waited more than 60 seconds.
In total last year, 911 telecommunicators received 215,276 911 calls which make up only one third of the 625,000 requests for service they received. Telecommunicators tracked 466,441 civilian or responder requests and dispatched responders 279,713 times.
The Hamilton County 911 Emergency Communications District employs more than 130 telecommunicators, answering an average of 1,700 calls daily – 625,000 annually. Telecommunicators also dispatch responders for all public safety response disciplines – law enforcement, fire and EMS – across 26 various agencies. Lookout Mountain, Soddy Daisy and UT-Chattanooga maintain stand-alone 911 call centers.