Emergency Call Volume

Emergency public calls arrive at the LAPD PSAP in one of three ways: 9-1-1, secondary calls rerouted from local fire and police station telephone numbers, and Spanish emergency call line. On a typical Wednesday, the LAPD PSAP receives 12,049 emergency calls, answers 9,542 (79%), leaving 2,507 (21 %) where the caller hangs up ("abandon" the call) before being answered (LAPD, 1992a). This call volume is in sharp contrast to that of Wednesday, April 29, the first day of the civil disturbance. On that day 35,558 calls came in, dispatchers answered 24,499 (69%), leaving 11,059 (3 1 %) abandoned by the caller (LAPD, 1992b). 'Mis represented a 195 % increase in call volume over a typical day. Answered calls increased by 157 % percent, but there was also 341 % increase in unanswered calls. Graph 9 charts emergency calls by type for Wednesday through Saturday. The chart shows that the (greatest emergency call volume came in on Thursday; a 364% increase. Abandoned calls increased 0 by 449%. By Saturday emergency call volume began to approach a more normal level resulting in more answered calls. The abandoned call volume rate returned to normal by Friday. Emergency telephone lines established for Spanish speaking callers had a higher abandoned call rate than those using 9-1-1 during the disaster (Graph 10). The Spanish emergency line abandoned call rate peaked on Thursday (9-1-1 peaked on Wednesday), and then gradually declined. The slower rate of decline may indicate that it was more difficult to staff up or find positions to handle this call volume. It is also interesting to note that the typical Spanish emergency call abandonment rate exceeds 10% which is the 9-1-1 rate. Interviews with company representatives and the data show that the telephone equipment handled. the call volume. There simply weren't enough telephone answering consoles to keep up with it (Webster, 1992). LAPD and LAFD had all of their operating positions fully staffed during the entire event.

Medical Care for the Injured

Continue to EMS Call Volume Compared to Fire Service Call Volume

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