Lubbock Police Department Under Fire For Thousands of Abandoned 911 Calls
Imagine calling 911 during an emergency situation and no one answers the phone. For far too many people, that is exactly what is happening in Lubbock and members of the Lubbock City Council, along with citizens in the community want the problem fixed.
According to a recent report from KAMC, the Lubbock Police Department had more than 30,000 abandoned 911 calls in 2022 and things aren't looking much better for 2023.
In 2022, there were 183,436 911 calls placed to the Lubbock Police. Out of those, 30,017 were abandoned. What is an abandoned call? According to the Lubbock Emergency Communications District, a call is considered "abandoned calls" means that the caller hung up before dispatch was able to answer.
As KAMC reports, the Lubbock Police did call back over 26,000 of those abandoned calls.
Of those, 30,017 were abandoned (which is more than 16%). The dispatch center then called 26,448 back. However, 3,569 were both abandoned and “unserviced” – meaning these phones could call 911, but the 911 operators could not call back.
Also in 2022, there were 441 calls that rolled over to other call centers in Lubbock County.
Even with the number of call-backs, Lubbock Mayor Tray Payne found the number of abandoned calls unacceptable. The Mayor took to Facebook to explain that every 911 call should be answered and that the council allocated more than $7 millions dollars to this year's police budget to take on the issue and he expects it to be a "top priority".
The projections don't look great for 2023 according to KAMC who projected over 188,000 calls to Lubbock 911 and around 30,000 of those calls could be abandoned.