Building Would Be A Regional Hub In Terrorist Attack
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 8, 2006
District officials have opened a high-tech emergency communications center, a landmark in their efforts to reform a troubled 911 system and better prepare the city for terrorist attacks and other crises.
The pink-brick Unified Communications Center, built on the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast Washington, will handle all emergency police and fire calls, house the D.C. Emergency Management Agency and serve as the mayor's command center in a disaster.
The $116 million building was inaugurated Sept. 26 during a ceremony that drew dignitaries from throughout the region, including D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D), Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The building is so state-of-the-art that even Chertoff admitted to a case of "operations center envy."
"It's a great model for the rest of the country," he said.
For years, the city's 911 system was the focus of complaints and scandals. In 1998, the city's inspector general found that thousands of emergency calls were allowed to go unanswered.
In response, District officials decided to combine the city's police, fire and emergency medical call-takers and dispatchers under one roof in what eventually became a new agency, the D.C. Office of Unified Communications.
E. Michael Latessa, director of the agency, said the emergency calls had been going to a single office on McMillan Drive NW. But the old center was cramped, with air-conditioning units whirring loudly.
The new building, in contrast, is 127,000 square feet with high ceilings and has a central room vaguely reminiscent of the NASA Mission Control Center shown in movies and TV reports. Call-takers work at desks with multiple flat-panel computer screens. On giant screens above, they can check news events and weather patterns, as well as the number of incoming calls.
"If we had another sniper situation, we would be able to put additional call-takers" there to receive tips and reports, Latessa said. "If we were to have a major disaster, where the 911 system would be overloaded with calls, we have the capacity of expanding it."
The center also could become a regional hub in the event of a terrorist attack or other major crisis, officials said. The building's bricks, stone and doors are blast-resistant. It has enough water, food, gas and generator power to be self-sustaining for 72 hours, said Suzanne J. Peck, the city's chief technology officer.
"This is the same level of security that the White House has," Peck said. "There is capacity for all necessary emergency management and other personnel" who would arrive in a crisis.
The communications systems have extensive backup to minimize disruptions caused by a power outage or breakdown.
"Our communications will never go down," Peck said.
Because Washington is considered a prime terrorism target, the federal government kicked in $24 million toward the cost of the building.
"It is nothing short of an imperative for this high-target region," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). "It signals, however, our understanding that what we used to call public security and homeland security are in fact conflated. You're going to dial the same 911."
The center receives 911 and non-emergency 311 calls, which include abandoned vehicles and cats trapped in trees. Soon, the building will also house the mayor's citywide call center, which handles calls from residents reporting problems, asking for information or offering feedback to the mayor. That number is 202-727-1000.
In total, the new building is expected to handle about 2.65 million calls a year, Peck said. About 425 employees will routinely work in the center, which is open 24 hours a day.
Even before the building opened, city officials were touting huge improvements in responding to 911 calls. In 2001, the District's 911 operators were answering nearly half of all calls within five seconds; now, that figure is 97 percent, Peck said.
Some of the improvement stems from training the operators to handle a wider variety of emergency calls, the officials said. For example, in the past, a police operator would have to transfer a resident reporting a blaze to a fire call-taker, losing precious seconds. Now, about half the call-takers are capable of handling all kinds of emergency reports, Latessa said.
Beyond the high-tech equipment, the center also offers other amenities, including a day-care center and a gym, aimed at retaining employees in what is often a stressful environment.
Kaine said that before visiting the District's new emergency center, he thought Virginia's emergency operations center set the standard for excellence.
The tour left another impression.
"You set the standard," he said.
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