PORTSMOUTH, Va - In an empowerment forum Thursday night in Portsmouth, residents addressed their concerns about 911 dispatch times to the city's 911 administrator, Paula Garner, and City Manager Mimi Terry.
Some Portsmouth residents say they have had a hard time getting through to dispatch in emergency situations.
"I’ve dialed 911 15 times this year and it took an hour and a half for police to get there," one Portsmouth resident said.
City Manager Mimi Terry acknowledged there’s an overflow of individuals calling 911 for non-emergency issues. That's contributing to wait times.
"Why does someone dial 911 to find out when court starts? That’s not an emergency," another resident said.
"We’re having to direct the calls to the correct place," Terry said.
The city's 9-1-1 administrator Paula Garner said, in 2022, there were more than 77,000 non-emergency calls to 911 in Portsmouth and more than 81,000 emergency calls.
Garner said the city will be implementing a new system that will address wait times.
"Citizens will be able to take snapshots, videos, text messages and send it directly to our dispatch center where we can forward that to an officer," Garner said.
One resident also addressed crime with city leaders during the forum.
"It’s scary," said Cheryl Pankratz. "Sometimes you’re afraid to walk out your front door. I have a friend whose son got shot 5 times and he was walking his dog. He’s 17 years old."
She's referencing a shooting that happened Monday night on Headwind Lane. The 17-year-old remains in critical condition.
"We actually were able to make an arrest, two arrests in that today," Jenkins responded. "Our officers executed a search warrant in the city and were able to arrest two juveniles and charge them with the shooting. This is a reflection of the work your police department is doing."
In the forum, Chief Jenkins said the police department has around 80 vacancies.
Pankratz says that has been a concern of hers for some time.
"I would like to see more police officers which I know we don’t have," she said. "The shooting is out of hand."
City leaders say they will take Thursday's night input and feedback from the community before the 2024 city budget is approved.
