City of Pittsburgh Controller Rachael Heisler and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor announced their offices will conduct concurrent audits of public safety functions overseen by their respective governments. In particular, O’Connor’s audit will assess the working conditions, workload, training and technology resources of operators in the 911 Call Center serving the entirety of Allegheny County. Heisler’s audit will examine response times of the City’s police, fire, and emergency services bureaus and working conditions and available support services for members of these departments. Each audit will compare these departments’ data with nationally recognized best practices and benchmarks.

“Together, these audits will present a holistic picture of how our emergency services are fulfilling their missions to our residents and the commitment of our governments to these essential workers,” Heisler and O’Connor said in a joint statement. “At any moment, the life of any resident or visitor could depend on these critical functions operating as intended and our workers being at their best and most prepared. Our governments act interdependently when it comes to emergency response, which is why our offices are partnering on these complementary audits.”

O’Connor said concerns with working conditions in the 911 Call Center have been longstanding and persistent. “Anyone involved in County government or the emergency services community have heard these concerns. It’s past time that we take an evidence- and data-based look at where we stand and where we can improve. Worker recruitment and retention is a concern across County government, especially in demanding jobs such as the Call Center. Our professionals serving in these critical roles simply must be afforded the resources and working conditions to perform at the highest level for our citizens,” he said.

“Our first priority is keeping people safe, and that requires us to support the men and women we count on to protect the public,” said City Controller Rachael Heisler. “Our audit will examine how efficiently we’re responding to emergencies, and what we can do to better serve the public and our first responders. At a time when the City is facing a public safety staffing shortage, we need to be sure that we’re giving first responders the resources they need to do their jobs, and that the City and County are working together to provide high-quality emergency response.”