DC Mayor Won't Go Down 'Rabbit Hole' on Reported 911 Problems

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) dismissed 911 dispatching concerns raised by former journalist Dave Statter and others. “I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole with Dave Statter,” said Bowser in a Monday news conference. She said she’s “absolutely” confident in the Office of Unified Communications. The Office of D.C. Auditor might probe OUC next year after many reports of dispatching issues, including sending first responders to the wrong address or multiple responders to the same place (see 2008110050 and 2008070042). Statter tweeted later Monday about a Friday incident in which OUC apparently failed to immediately dispatch an ambulance to an injured person. The dispatcher asked an ambulance to respond at 3:08 a.m. and had to make another request about 30 minutes later, showed OpenMHZ audio referenced by Statter. Bowser and OUC didn’t comment Tuesday.