10:00 PM CDT on Friday, May 6, 2005

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

Because of a rash of retirements and budget woes, the city of Houston has had to tighten its belt and the mayor has asked all departments to look at ways to be more productive.

KHOU-TV

Joe Laud, a HEC official, says the new 80-second guideline and other rules were put in place to increase productivity.

But at Houston's Emergency Center (HEC) where people answer 911 calls, some dispatchers and call takers say the new productivity plan could lead to someone's death.

When a Houston police officer is dispatched to a call, their lifeline is the computer in their patrol car and their two-way radio.

That's where they receive vital information from dispatchers.

"I mean details are important," says Sgt. Johnnie McFarland with the Houston Police Officers Patrolmen's Union. "You know when you go out here and you're chasing suspects you want to know if they're armed ... if they are chasing something ... if they're driving something ... get names, addresses."

It can also be a lifeline to someone in danger.

When a person calls 911 and needs the police, you're transferred to an HPD call taker like 16-year veteran Latrella Thomas.

She says a new policy at HEC has made gathering information for police more difficult.

11 news obtained a document which states call takers must process each call in approximately 80 seconds.

Anything over 90 seconds needs improvement say HEC officials, and if the call takes more than 121 seconds, that's unacceptable.

"We take a call ... you can't put a timely frame on that because you have to get that information from the citizen," says Thomas.

"First of all, when a citizen calls in they are hysterical," she says. "They don't know what to say, what to do, you've got to try and pull it out of them. You have to calm them down and get the information and that takes time."

But taking the time to get the necessary information often leads to punishment.

"Exactly ... at the end of each month, we get what is called a statistics sheet," says Tom Savin.

It's a log of how long they've been on calls.

"These reflect on our evaluations, because we are either taking to long to take the call, too long on not ready, too long on a break. So we're punished," says Savin.

"We want our officers to be armed with as much information as they can get when they go out to a scene," says McFarland.

But is there pressure to get call takers off that phone call as soon as possible, so they can get on another one?

"Right, well when you don't have enough people to staff a dispatch center, that is one of the things you have to do to make sure you can handle all the calls that come in. But that is dangerous. That doesn't make any sense and it's going to get somebody hurt or killed," says McFarland.

Houston attorney Tom Nixon is a Houston police officer. Just two weeks ago he says he was dispatched to a non-emergency narcotics complaint near downtown.

But when he arrived in the store parking lot, there was an assault in progress.

"I had to pull my weapon and also my Taser, and I wasn't sure if one had a weapon or not," says Nixon, who was alone.

Nixon says he's heard about the 80-second policy.

"Well you hear rumors, but I see the results. And the results are a constant misinformation from the dispatchers to the officers on the streets," says Nixon.

Thomas says she worries about officers like Nixon and the victims, too.

She remembers telling a young victim of a home invasion to immediately go upstairs.

"I told her to go in the bathroom and lock the door," says Thomas. "We had to stay on the line with them which HEC wanted us to get off, but I didn't get off because that lady's life was in jeopardy."

Joe Laud is with HEC. He says the new rules were put in place to increase productivity.

"Well, it's part of the mayor's new plan for their evaluation, their performance and that is part of their requirements that they will have to follow," says Laud. "But it follows the Department of Justice, their guidelines for all public safety call taking procedures."

They're not good guidelines, says Sgt. Johnnie McFarland.

"There is no reason for a police officer to go to a scene and not know what's going on," he says.

But it appears at the moment, the information dispatched is limited.