Philly's 911 call center makes changes to system after 2023 mass shooting
KINGSESSING - A leading member of Philadelphia City Council and city police say they’ve teamed up to reform the police department’s radio room after a mistake by a dispatcher during a mass shooting last summer.
The mass killing in Kingsessing in early July of last year stunned the city with the loss of five lives, including a 15-year-old. But, it was a flawed police dispatch of officers to North 56th Street, instead of the South 56th Street murder scene, which drew anger.
Jamie Gauthier, a Democrat, who represents the Kingsessing neighborhood in City Council, said, "When the city fails to successfully respond to an emergency, neighbors lose faith in the city’s ability to keep them safe."
Alleged killer Kimbrady Carriker, masked, in a bullet-proof vest and carrying an AR-style weapon, began his alleged slaughter 44 hours earlier than first thought, raising concerns an accurate dispatch could have saved lives.
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Senior dispatcher Tomasz Rog said, "It was just unfortunate mistakes were made and maybe that could have stopped the shooting from happening. Now, this room has changed a lot in the last couple of years."
City and police leadership say changes have come in the radio room since the slaughter. They say callers are immediately asked for "locations" and "directional indicators" (north, south, east, or west) and supervisors are quickly given that vital information.
A five percent pay hike, of the $50,000 a year salary, and a path to supervisory work have been added all in an effort, they say, to avoid deadly mistakes.
Challenges remain. The department report its budgeted for 360 radio dispatchers but, despite recruiting and hiring, it has only 300 working. And despite the pay raise, the union representative for the dispatchers says workers in the same positions working in communities outside the city earn as much as $10,000 more for the same work.
Commissioner Kevin Bethel, leading the Philadelphia Police, said, "We have a lot of work to do to make sure these men and women in this room feel just as valued as the officers on the street."