Kansas City, Missouri, to consider in-house 911 call center

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, could soon look into what it would take for the city to establish its own in-house 911 call center.

The KCMO City Council is scheduled to hold the first reading of a resolution Wednesday that would ask City Manager Brian Platt to seek proposals to determine what technology and equipment would be needed for the city to operate its own call center.

Sponsored by KCMO Mayor Quinton Lucas, the resolution would give Platt 45 days to report his findings to council members.

The National Emergency Number Association’s National Call Standard states 90% of 911 calls should be answered within 15 seconds.

Forty-one percent of call times in the past month in KCMO were answered within 15 seconds, according to the resolution.

The Mid-America Regional Council, a nonprofit local government association in the Kansas City area, currently administers the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department’s regional 911 system, which covers 11 counties.

Motorola is developing a solution for the system’s high influx of callers and shortage of dispatchers and call takers, but there is no estimated cost or timeline.

The resolution also argues strong local oversight and decision-making in 911 call centers “is important for effective service delivery that is accountable to Kansas Citians.”

Under the current system, improvements to call centers require approval from regional stakeholders.