News
Mayor Creates 911 Public Safety Communications Dept. and Names Terry Baxter as Interim Director
ARCHIVED PRESS RELEASE: Published 12-20-2011
Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced today his executive order to
establish a new 911 Public Safety Communications Department whose
core function will be emergency communications. Also, the mayor has
named Terry Baxter as Interim Director of the 911 Public Safety
Communications Department, effective Jan.3, 2012.
Terry Baxter comes to this position with more than 25 years of
experience at the City of Tulsa, including service in the Finance
Department. He has served as Senior Systems Analyst for the Tulsa
Fire Department, as well as Technical Services Section Head for
911. Terry is currently a Project Manager in the Management Review
Office. He has also worked with the Oklahoma Municipal League on
legislative initiatives at the state capitol. Terry holds an MBA
from Oklahoma State University.
"My office is committed to ensuring the safety of our
citizens. 911 Public Safety Communications is a specialized
discipline and is a core service we provide to the citizens of
Tulsa. Creating the 911 Public Safety Communications
Department will improve call answering and dispatch services
performed by 911 and represents the first step toward equipping our
dedicated emergency call takers and dispatchers with the staffing,
tools and training necessary for our 911 Center to become a leader
in emergency communications," said Mayor Bartlett.
The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) states that a
911 center should answer 90 percent of the calls received within 10
seconds and 95 percent of the calls received within 20 seconds. IT
records indicate that calls are answered within the NENA standards
only 51 percent of the time.
Going forward, the new 911 Public Safety Communications
Department will be working hard to improve technology with national
standards, address long-standing technology issues, employ best
practices in emergency communications, including recruitment,
hiring, training and retaining good employees so we can position
Tulsa's 911 Public Safety Communication to become a leader in
emergency communications.
Mayor Bartlett further stated, "Our MRO team has done an
outstanding job in gathering key information to assess the City's
911 services, as well as meeting with public safety officials
representing police, fire and the sheriff's office to understand
their concerns. The MRO held additional meetings with IT
representatives, the 911 Center management team and frontline 911
personnel to identify root causes of reported problems. Overall,
911 personnel are committed professionals who sincerely desire to
provide top-quality service to citizens and public safety
agencies."
The creation of the new 911 Public Safety Communication
Department holds many opportunities for improvement, such as:
- Improve call answering and dispatch services performed by
911
- Provide leadership and direction in implementation of and
advocacy for technology improvements
- Rebuild training program, including filling trainer position
with experience in curriculum development and expanding training
program to leverage training expertise in police, fire, and
EMSA
- Provide dedicated dispatchers for Police and Fire, allowing
dispatchers to develop and exercise expertise in specific
disciplines
- Structure service level agreements with served agencies to
establish performance standards
- Develop and implement strategies to offload non-emergency
calls
- Regain CALEA certification; explore partnership opportunities
and funding support from law enforcement agencies to regain the
certification
For complete details about the findings of the MRO, citizens are
encouraged to read the online 911 Public Safety Communications
Recommendation Report online.
