DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) – The City of Dallas is hosting a job fair to help ease it’s 911 call center issues.
The fair’s goal is to fix the ongoing problems at the cty’s call center after T-Mobile customers were unable to reach dispatchers when they called 911 for several weeks.
Two deaths are being blamed on the glitch. Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax said he feels the city is getting a better handle on what the call center needs and he’s optimistic about today’s event.
He said the intense media scrutiny surrounding the debacle might lead to a high turnout at the event.
“I think that people are recognizing importance of 911 and I am hoping that citizens want to take advantage and be a part of the solution,” he said.
The city hasn’t had a fair since 2012 but Broadnax said he’s still has high hopes based on the success of the last fair which resulted in 45 new 911 call takers.
“We were able to on board quite a few people on that given job fair. So, I am hoping that we can do the same, get them in the right training that is required and hopefully get them out on the floor to assist us as we move forward,” he said.
A few weeks into the problem, T-mobile sent engineers to work with the city of Dallas on the issue. Broadnax said it’s been a learning experience.
” Between staffing, technology and how we’re scheduling to be responsive when those peaks in incidents happen; I think we’re hopeful to come to our city council to have a conversation not just about what we’re doing today but what we’re doing in the interim. In regards to the long term, we want to ensure that the technology and staffing in the center can be stabilized and move us away with what we struggled over the last three to four years which is staffing our center and dealing with the influx of calls,” he said.
Broadnax said the city is working diligently to resolve the issue and hopes that Dallas citizens will agree.
“We’ll hopefully have a path forward and a path through giving the people and the citizens the assurance that when they call 911…they’re going to get someone on the phone and we can get someone out to assist them in a fast and appropriate manner,” said Broadnax.
The fair is being held at the Dallas Police Headquarters Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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