A couple of weeks ago the Broward County Sheriff's Office came under fire when the local Sun-Sentinel printed an investigative report that documented THOUSANDS of instances where Broward residents, some experiencing legitimate and immediate emergencies, found their 911 calls went unanswered....LITERALLY.
The root of the problem is a shortage of dispatchers, there are currently 92 openings for 911 dispatchers in Broward County, along with a rising pay problem. Apparently some of the neighboring counties, like Palm Beach, are paying upwards of $20K a year more than Broward County and their dispatchers handle HALF the call volume that dispatchers in Broward see annually.
So not only we do we not have enough people to handle the volume of the calls but the county clearly isn't compensating them properly so the ones we do have are easily lured away by other municipalities...
UNACCEPTABLE!!!
Obviously, the Sheriff and Commissioners know something needs to be done so when the initial investigative report was released they set a county meeting for May 10th where the Sheriff was to present his case and make his official ask for resources that will provide a long-term solution to rectify the situation in a meaningful way and permanent way...
Well, May 10th came and let me tell you...so did the Fireworks!!!
Check out this video of Sheriff Tony going toe-to-toe with Commissioner Mark Borgen...
All I can say is...THAT'S MY SHERIFF!!!
I'm gonna let you formulate your own opinions as to the behavior of the Commissioner but PERSONALLY I think he deserved ALL the SMOKE!!!
Also...GIVE BSO ALL THE DAMN MONEY THEY NEED!!!
I think I can speak for residents of any county in America when I say that if I call 911 in an EMERGENCY situation SOMEBODY BETTER ANSWER THE GD PHONE!!!