After bungled calls, police promise changes to 911 center

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

Boston Police said today they will immediately make changes to the 911 call center after acknowledging that in a recent incident officers took 35 minutes to come to the aid of an elderly man who had been beaten and robbed.

Superintendent-in-Chief Robert Dunford said the department would move up a previously scheduled training course for all of its 911 call takers and dispatchers.

The course will address a variety of issues, including how to categorize calls so police know exactly how urgent they are, making sure to verify addresses, and techniques for handling stress, he said.

Police supervisors will also monitor more 911 calls and superintendents and deputy superintendents will also listen in. Right now, calls are usually monitored by the lieutenants and sergeants in charge of the shifts.

“We are a living organization and a learning organization. As information comes in, we try to learn from what took place and how to make the system better,” Dunford said.

“Do we make errors? Yes,” he said. But then he praised the department’s officers and employees, saying, "They absolutely do the best job they possibly can."

The Globe reported today on the delay in responding to the assault on the 76-year-old man on April 20. It was the second time in less than two months that a 911 call taker's mistake led to a long delay in a police response.

In March, police took 14 minutes to get to a homicide scene on Washington Street in Dorchester after a call taker mistakenly sent police to the same street address in the Downtown Crossing area.

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