Washington, D.C
DC Council to review 911 call center failures in Fall oversight hearings
DC Council plans hearings, legislation to address 911 call center failures
The D.C. Council will take a closer look at the District’s 911 call center this fall, FOX 5 has learned. David Kaplan speaks with D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto about the plan.
WASHINGTON – The D.C. Council will take a closer look at the District’s 911 call center this fall, FOX 5 has learned.
The move follows several high-profile incidents in recent years involving delayed responses, incorrect addresses, and misclassification of urgent calls.
Brooke Pinto is the Council’s Chair for Public Safety. She announced Monday that she’d have oversight hearings in the fall, and introduce legislation aimed at creating more transparency for the Office of Unified Communications, or OUC.
The hearings will center on “operational failures,” transparency, performance, technology, and coordination within the D.C. Government.
There will also be unannounced visits to the call center.
“I think one of the most important things to keep in mind is how important oversight is to this. Solutions aren’t always built into a new law or a new idea. It also requires daily follow-up and oversight and making sure the agency is holding up their end of the bargain and following the law as implemented and intended,” Pinto said.
As for the proposed legislation, Pinto wants required releases of after-action reports when there’s reason to believe an error leads to serious injury or death.
It will also call for the release of relevant records from dispatch, along with transcripts and even 911 calls.
Over the last few years, FOX 5 has profiled stories of families who feel a better emergency response might have saved their loved ones.
David Griffin had a mental health crisis and jumped into the Washington Channel in March 2022 and drowned.
Multiple 911 calls were made before he jumped, but the call was characterized as an overdose instead of a Priority 1 emergency, according to a lawsuit filed by the family against the District.
Aujah Griffin is his daughter who’s been advocating for changes and improvements to OUC since her father died but has been frustrated by the lack of progress.
She said she hopes this time is different.
“These types of things, when you see other people advocate, especially for the same things that you’re advocating for, it makes a world of difference. But, um, I’ll believe it when I see it, that’s sort of where I am at this point. I haven’t seen anything that sticks. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high,” Griffin said.
Regarding Griffin’s death, an OUC spokesperson told WTOP, which prompted a review, and there was room to improve the response.
The lawsuit is still pending.
Concerns raised after DC 911 call center experiences 6th outage this year
D.C.’s 911 call center is once again under fire after their system went down Friday evening. This comes after a number of calls for change from residents and city leaders following delayed response times that have led to the death of animals and people.
For its part, in response to another death, OUC said last month they’re continuing to work on improving technology, bringing in more staffing, and improving the agency which they said is staffed with good, hardworking people.
In a statement to FOX 5 Monday, OUC said it’s committed to transparency and improving emergency communications in the District.
“OUC is committed to transparency about how we critically evaluate performance to understand root causes, integrate best practices, and quickly implement changes in order to continuously improve 911 service for the District of Columbia,” the statement reads.
WASHINGTON – Thousands are expected gather in Washington, D.C. for a “No Kings” march and rally.
Here’s everything you need to know:
What is the No Kings protest?
What we know:
Organized locally by area chapters of Indivisible and allied grassroots groups, the event aims to draw protesters to downtown Washington and surrounding counties to oppose policies of the Trump administration and to voice broader concerns about civil rights and democratic norms.
No Kings protest details
Timeline:
The march will kick off at 10 a.m., with participants gathering at Memorial Circle near Arlington Cemetery, with additional access from the Blue Line or nearby parking at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, according to the event organizers. There is no public parking in the immediate area, but participants can be dropped off at the circle.
From there, the procession will head across the Memorial Bridge into Washington, D.C., passing the Lincoln Memorial and continuing on to the Washington Monument.
At the conclusion of the march, participants can walk to a downtown rally, from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Other ‘No Kings’ rallies in the DMV
Dig deeper:
In addition to the main rally in downtown D.C., several other demonstrations tied to “No Kings 3” are scheduled around the DMV this Saturday.
In Arlington, Virginia, activists are organizing a march across the Memorial Bridge beginning at 10 a.m., with protesters expected to continue into West Potomac Park before joining larger crowds in the District proper, for example.
There are hundreds of “No Kings” events scheduled to take place this Saturday throughout the DMV. You can click here to find a list of all of them.
How to watch No Kings march and rally in DC
What you can do:
FOX 5 DC will be covering No Kings in D.C. all day on FOX LOCAL and in the liveplayer at the top of this story.
FOX 5 DC is available to watch for free on Roku, Amazon FireTV, Apple TV, Google Android TV and Vizio with the FOX LOCAL app. Here’s how to download FOX LOCAL on your mobile phone.
Washington, D.C
‘Strong smell’ shuts down flights at major DC-area airports for the second time this month
Check out what’s clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
A reported “strong smell” at a key air traffic control center disrupted flights Friday evening at major airports across the Washington, D.C., region for the second time in two weeks.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporarily halted flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport (CHO) and Richmond International Airport (RIC), the agency told FOX Business in an email.
The FAA said the disruptions were due to a “strong smell” at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) center, which manages airspace in the region.
GROUND STOP LIFTED AT MAJOR DC-AREA AIRPORTS AFTER CHEMICAL ODOR DISRUPTS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
An FAA air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
It was not immediately clear what caused the smell.
Ground stops at Dulles, Reagan National and BWI remained in effect until around 8 p.m. ET before being lifted, according to the FAA’s website.
NEWARK AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS LOST RADAR, RADIO COMMUNICATIONS WITH PLANES FOR OVER A MINUTE, SPARKING CHAOS
The FAA said the disruption was due to a “strong smell” at the Potomac Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) center. (Flightradar24)
As of 8:30 p.m., Reagan National was experiencing ground delays, while BWI continued to see departure delays.
Earlier this month, a ground stop was similarly issued at several airports in the Washington, D.C., region after a chemical odor was detected at the TRACON center.
FATAL LAGUARDIA COLLISION RENEWS FOCUS ON RUNWAY INCURSION RISKS ACROSS US
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy speaks at a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The temporary ground stop March 13 similarly affected DCA, IAD, BWI and RIC, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at the time.
Duffy said the smell came from an overheated circuit board, which has since been replaced.
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