St. Louis is starting construction on a new 911 dispatch center today. The facility aims to improve response times for emergency services by bringing police, fire, and EMS dispatchers together in one location. "St. Louisans deserve a fast response when they call 911," said Rasmus Jorgensen, deputy director of communications for Mayor Tishaura Jones, in a statement to KSDK.
The city is spending $45 million to improve its 911 call system, which has had long wait times and missed calls. To attract and keep dispatchers, there will be a salary increase of about $10,000. "That's going to allow us to bring in more dispatchers and allow us to cross-train and really just give that fast response when people have an emergency," Jorgensen explained, as reported by the St. Louis Business Journal.
The new center will be located at 2741 Thomas St., near the St. Louis Fire Department headquarters and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency western campus. There are currently 116 dispatchers on staff. Recent data from St. Louis police shows that as of April 2024, 84% of 911 calls were answered within the first 10 seconds, up from 57% in July 2023.
The city aims to improve its response time. The groundbreaking for the Public Safety Answering Point Building is a step toward the “ultimate goal is to answer 90% of calls within 10 seconds," and it will help improve the emergency dispatch system by consolidating resources, as stated by the KSDK.
