Should Provo 911 send a call for help?

PROVO — Call 911 while in Provo, and the likelihood is a seasoned, well-trained dispatcher will answer.

But former Provo dispatch center manager Dana Ferre says the center is understaffed, which means harried or less-experienced dispatchers are often on the front lines, too. And that, she says, has led to errors.

Starting in 1997, she began to warn city administrators through a series of detailed memorandums that the dispatch center was at "high risk for serious 911 errors" and openly worried she wouldn't get the additional staff she requested until there was a lawsuit or a death.

Ferre quit on Aug. 31 after 23 years on the job. She resigned because she says city administrators still refuse to provide additional dispatchers even after she felt her worries were made real last October. A little more than a year ago, Scott Aston called 911 on his cell phone from his Provo apartment and died after a new dispatcher botched his call and sent emergency crews to the wrong address.

An independent investigation of that incident by the Ogden Police Department found it was a result of dispatcher error — not a lack of staffing. Ferre, however, says her memos were not provided to the investigators.

Provo Police Chief Craig Geslison says Ferre's memos were typical of any manager seeking additional staffing and adamantly maintains the center is properly staffed with 22 full-time dispatch positions. Any mistakes made in the center occur because of human error, he said. And Provo officials say Ogden investigators didn't need the reports because they focused specifically on the Aston case — not staffing — and had access to Ferre.

Ogden Assistant Police Chief Randy Watt said the memos would not have impacted investigators' findings or recommendations.

"This incident involved a specific 'window' in time and, . . . the investigative team found that the center was busy but that there were sufficient personnel on duty at that time to properly handle the call," Watt said in a statement.

He also noted that the purpose of the investigation was "not to investigate the complete operations of the center.

"Again, regardless of what the conditions, past and present, of the center were, the incident was caused by human error involving two employees of the center at that specific time," Watt said.

Provo officials say the memos were given to the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials for a comprehensive review of the center's practices, including staffing, and that Ferre knew staffing would be a subject of that report.