Ousting DC's 911 interim director is just the beginning, safety advocates say
The District of Columbia is launching a search for a new director for the city's 911 call center.
After years of documented critical errors at DC's 911, the former and interim director, Karima Holmes, is out and a search for a new director for the Office of Unified Communications is underway.
It's surprising to many, including DC Auditor, Kathy Patterson, that the Mayor reappointed, and then held on to, a troubled candidate this long.
“Our big audit came out October 2021 - 14 months ago - and found leadership and management failures which reflected poorly on the prior leadership,” said Patterson. “And then, within a couple of months, in February, the Mayor reappointed the former leader which didn't make any sense to me given the audit's findings.”
The same mistakes kept occurring: blown addresses, delayed dispatches and misdirected emergency services.
In March, one month after the Mayor reappointed Holmes, police were sent to the wrong address the day Aujah Griffin's father, David, died. She's testified before the DC City Council. With Holmes on her way out, Griffin says she feels heard but this is just the beginning.
“I don't think change is going to happen overnight,” said Griffin. “I don't think that this is the end all, be all because there's so many layers to it. But it's a start."
First step: finding the most qualified person for the job.
“What you want in a leader is someone who is a professional, who is not about the politics of DC but just about getting the job done, moving the place forward,” said Dave Statter.
Statter is a public safety advocate who's covered DC-911 for nearly four decades. He uncovered at least 11 deaths that happened during mishandled calls since 2019.
“These problems existed before there was Karima Holmes and they will exist after she's gone if they don't do something to change it,” said Statter.
Statter says perhaps a task force or a commission should be formed to fundamentally improve 911 .
Auditor Kathy Patterson says it's an all-hands-on-deck situation for the DC Council.
“What behooves the elected officials who were prepared to vote against Ms. Holmes, I think it's certainly incumbent on them to help with the search, to help with the reaching out to everybody's networks to make sure we get someone who can really work with the team and fulfill the responsibilities," said Patterson.
Griffin agrees.
“When you're put in a certain role and you know, you're called upon to do certain things, you have to step up to the plate and make sure that these things won't happen again and that other families don't have to continue to keep going through these same things,” said Griffin.
In a statement released last night, Mayor Bowser praised Holmes’ leadership at OUC, and said she regrets having to withdraw her nomination.
Patterson says the second, follow-up audit of OUC - that's been underway for months - will be out in January and among other things, examines the handling of 9-1-1 dispatch during two incidents where infants died.
