Ex-Police Chief Blasts Corker on 911 Funds
From Thursday’s Chattanooga Times Free Press: A retired Chattanooga police chief said former Mayor Bob Corker thwarted efforts to improve 911 operations by refusing to fund more communications positions. “I asked for communications officers in every budget, especially under the Corker administration, and each time it was denied,” former police Chief Jimmie Dotson said this week from Houston, Texas, where he now lives. “(We) spent many, many, many hours battling the Corker administration asking for communications officers.” Mr. Corker, who is running for the U.S. Senate, declined comment.
Todd Womack, who served as communications director for Mr. Corker’s mayoral administration, said he did not recall Mr. Dotson requesting more 911 employees.
“Certainly any budget that was ever adopted was one that was suggested by Chief Dotson,” he said. “To be honest, Chief Dotson never had a complete grasp of what was going on in this department.”
The Times Free Press requested the Chattanooga Police Department’s proposed budgets for the years in question, but officials in Mayor Ron Littlefield’s office have not made them available.
Mr. Womack, who now serves as political director for Mr. Corker’s campaign, said the former mayor worked to reduce 911 call volume by creating the 311 service to handle non-emergency requests.
The police department’s former budget director, Dr. Ashok Roy, said the police department under Mr. Dotson asked for 15 to 18 additional communications staff members while Mr. Corker was mayor. Dr. Roy now works for Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
David Eichenthal, who was the city’s finance officer for two years under Mr. Corker, said he did not recall the police department requesting additional 911 staff.
“For the last two budgets when I was city finance officer, (I have) no recollection of a recommendation from anybody from the police department for increase in staffing for 911,” Mr. Eichenthal said Wednesday.
Records show Mr. Corker never allocated additional funds to hire 911 staff. The number of unanswered calls rose steadily during his four years as mayor, records show.
There were 66 funded communications personnel positions from 2000 to 2004, according to city personnel records. Two 911 positions were added in 2004 after Mr. Corker approved a budget that eliminated two vacant civilian positions in another unit of the police department.
Retired Deputy Chief Larry Lyda, who oversaw 911 operations for more than 20 years, wrote in a 2001 letter to Mr. Dotson that 13 additional 911 employees were needed.
Mr. Lyda said in the letter that the problems with the city’s 911 operations were “a crisis situation.”
More than 31,000, or 16.9 percent, of all 911 calls made in the city limits last year went unanswered, records show.
Mr. Dotson said the thousands of 911 calls going unanswered every month in Chattanooga should not surprise anyone. He said wireless phone calls to 911 were increasing when he was police chief. Today, 64 percent of all 911 calls are made by wireless phone, officials estimate.
“We knew it would reach that, so that’s why we kept requesting for more positions in the budget,” Mr. Dotson said.
Chattanooga 911 operators handle a disproportionate number of the wireless phone calls made in Hamilton County, contributing to the heavy call volume, officials have said.
Chattanooga Police Chief Steve Parks said he is asking Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield for six additional communications specialists in his next budget.
Mr. Womack said the Corker administration quickly tried to reduce the dropped call rate after it became an issue in the 2001 mayoral race. But unanswered calls rose from 8.8 percent in 2001 to 14.9 percent in 2004, records provided by the police department show.
In a news release Wednesday, the campaign for former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant, R-Tenn., who is one of Mr. Corker’s opponents in the Senate race, said Mr. Corker has been silent on this issue.
“Until Mr. Corker pulls his head out of the sand on this issue, Tennesseans will be left to wonder whether he did all he could to fix the problem or if he allowed the city’s emergency call system to lapse into 911 ‘dial-a-prayer,’” Bryant spokesman Andrew Shulman said in the news release.
Mr. Womack said Mr. Corker put great focus on the police department to ensure the safety of residents.
“Ed Bryant continues to demonstrate that he’s willing to say anything to return to Washington,” he said.
Mr. Corker, Mr. Bryant and former U.S. Rep. Van Hilleary, R-Tenn., are running in the Aug. 3 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat to be vacated by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.
By Ginny LaRoe and Michael Davis Staff Writers
