With 911 dispatch center delayed, St. Louis faces slow response times

Although it was initially planned to open this year, a $45 million 911 dispatch center in St. Louis that will combine fire, police and EMS services will open after it finishes construction in “late fall” 2027. The announcement of the delay comes as the city’s 911 system is under scrutiny. We talk with Jia Lian Yang, communications and storytelling director at Forward Through Ferguson, who authored a recent report that analyzed 1.3 million 911 calls made in St. Louis. This region is far from the only one struggling to improve 911 response times: We also talk with journalist Byard Duncan, who obtained data from 911 systems from some 60 American cities, including St. Louis. He found that St. Louis answered just 78% of its 911 calls by the 15-second standard set by the National Emergency Number Association.