A new investigation by the city auditor has found that Oakland’s 911 call center is understaffed, calls aren’t picked up quickly, language barriers prevent fast intake of calls, and serious crimes aren’t being quickly responded to by officers in East Oakland, among other problems.
Issues with Oakland’s 911 system have been well documented in recent years. A previous city audit from 2017 found that Oakland wasn’t meeting the state-mandated response times. The Alameda County Grand Jury published reports identifying the same problem in 2020 and 2023. In July 2023, the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services warned that Oakland risked losing state funding if it didn’t improve its response times. The city began showing improvement last year, prompting the state to withdraw its threat.
City Auditor Michael Houston’s latest review examined police call data from January 2019 through December 2024…