Hill Makes 911 Call — To 911

The city’s director of public safety communications had a message for the Hill South community management team: in an emergency, call 911 — not the personal number of the neighborhood’s top cop.

“We did call 911,” responded Meghan Currey, who heads the neighborhood’s Wilson Library Branch. ​“Nobody ever answered.”

That conversation took place during a broader discussion about the city’s 911, held at the latest Hill South CMT meeting.

The management team convened this past Wednesday evening beneath the wooden beams of Betsy Ross School’s Parish Hall on Kimberly Avenue. They were joined by the city’s chief administrative officer, Regina Rush-Kittle, as well as by Joe Vitale, the director of the city’s 911 system (also known as Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP.)

Vitale urged the group of Hill South neighbors to call 911 for urgent matters, rather than directly calling Sgt. Jasmine Sanders, the neighborhood’s recently-appointed district manager. Sanders isn’t on call at every moment to respond to emergencies, Vitale said. ​“If you need police action, start with PSAP.”

Librarian Meghan Currey raised her hand. She said the Wilson Branch recently had to request medical help for a patron. She tried calling 911 three times, she said, until she finally connected with a 911 system from out of town. ​“They said, ​‘This is not New Haven.’ ” 

The call center that answered Currey’s call attempted to redirect her to New Haven’s 911 system — but wound up sending her call to West Haven’s 911 center. West Haven tried again to transfer Currey to New Haven, but the line dropped. Somehow, Emergency Medical Services arrived at the library anyway.

Later in the meeting, management team member Angela Hatley said that she frequently calls the non-emergency police dispatch line with noise complaints, often about dirt bike riders who ride loudly down her block. She doesn’t always get a response from the dispatchers, she said, and sometimes, when a dispatcher answers, ​“they get upset when we’re calling.”

Vitale responded that the 911 center can’t control where cell companies send emergency calls. He said that PSAP is drastically understaffed, missing 10 to 12 workers, but that he has about 10 people currently in training. 

“Covid kicked us pretty bad,” Vitale said, referring to staffing challenges. And the center receives an average of 988 calls per day, based on 2021 statistics, he said.

“There’s a lot of good people up there,” he said of PSAP. His staff often handles traumatic events without receiving closure. ​“One call, they’re delivering a baby, and the next is the worst thing that could ever happen.”

Hill resident Blannie Bostic called for more relationship building initiatives between PSAP staff and New Haven residents. ​“There’s gotta be some kind of bridge between PSAP and the community,” he said.

Vitale noted that many PSAP staff are New Haven residents. He suggested that he could bring a 911 staffer to a future management team meeting.

“I’m not making excuses,” Vitale said. ​“I’m trying to repair what is happening.” He added that he’s bolstered training for his staff in de-escalation and customer service techniques.