Hold times for 911 calls in Portland are far longer than the national standard, which specifies that 90% of calls should be answered within 15 seconds. According to the city’s Bureau of Emergency Communications, only 35% of calls were answered within that window last month. The bureau wants to hire more dispatchers and has begun using a system of automatic call backs to numbers that hang up. It also plans to launch an automated answering system for non-emergency calls in the new year.

Joining us to talk about possible fixes for long emergency call wait times is Bob Cozzie, director of the Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications.