Parkland Emergency Response: What Could Have Been Improved?

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The Parkland high school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida is being analyzed by emergency services groups to determine how response times can be improved, according to WDEF-TV. Investigations after the event revealed that of the 15 calls that were made by students and teachers at the school, only three were forwarded to the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO). The closest cell tower to the school routed 911 calls to nearby Coral Springs.

National Fire Protection Association guidelines recommend that calls should be forwarded to the lead agency within 30 seconds, but these are only suggestions.  Once placed, a call through a cell phone tower will contact the nearest agency, although not necessarily the most appropriate one, WDEF-TV reported.

In assessing the calls, former Emergency Management Director for Broward County, Chuck Lanza, praised the dispatchers for handling calls in a calm and reassuring manner.  He also said that in the, “best case scenario, they would have transferred all those calls over to BSO after they got the information they needed for EMS. Many of them didn’t get transferred over and that could have caused some problems on the BSO side.”  Comments? Email us.

November 19, 2018