The staffing crisis at D.C.’s 911 call center has gotten so bad that the agency is offering bonuses to staff members simply for showing up for every scheduled shift.
The director of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC), Heather McGaffin, made the offer to staff members in an email Tuesday morning.
“Good morning 911 Team- Starting immediately all 911 employees who show up for all of their scheduled shifts will receive an $800 incentive for the month,” the email obtained by News4 says.
“Staffing is crucial to the success of our agency. Unscheduled call outs of all kinds are up and causing a hardship for fellow employees who are continuously getting stuck, coming in early, and being asked to come in on days off,” she continued. “The pilot is simple- show up for each shift you’re assigned and receive $800 additional for the month. We start today for August.”
The announcement of the bonuses comes less than 24 hours after News4’s I-Team reported that staffing at the call center has hit dangerously low levels. Last month, the agency fell short of minimum staffing levels 88% of the time.
The agency also has acknowledged serious issues with internal computer hardware, which caused the 911 computer system to go offline six times this year. The most recent outage was for 20 minutes.
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Two weeks ago, the system was down for two hours. In that time, a D.C. family told police they tried to call 911 but were unable to get through while their 5-month-old was in medical distress. The baby later died.
Council Member Charles Allen said OUC is “in crisis.”
“Not a week goes by that I don’t have a constituent reach out who couldn’t get through, had to wait a long time for first responders to be dispatched in an emergency, or had the wrong – or no – response arrive on scene,” he said in a statement. “The Executive won’t even admit there’s a major problem – but if it’s true they’re paying people $800 just to come to work, it’s a clear admission that we have an agency badly in need of major changes. DC residents are shaken and don’t trust that there’s leadership and a clear directive to turn the agency around. That’s a huge problem.”
OUC did not specifically answer News4’s questions and declined a request for an interview with McGaffin. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office also declined to answer questions.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
