Minneapolis man concerned over 911 system after 10-ring call wait

Minneapolis man concerned over 911 system after 10-ring call wait Joe Mazan KSTP Minneapolis 911 emergency response times A Minneapolis man said repeated delays when calling 911 left him worried about how quickly people can get help in an emergency. Tom Chase said he called 911 a few weeks ago after his wife fell and hit her head. He said the call took about 10 rings to answer, or nearly a minute. “It was just about 10 rings before they answered. I got to get her help. What am I going to do? Please answer,” Chase said. “Had to stand there quite a while; it rang and rang and rang.” A few days later, Chase said he called 911 again after seeing someone stealing a catalytic converter. He said no one answered that time. “It rang, I counted it 20 times, and there was no answer, so I thought they’re long gone now, so I just gave up,” Chase said. Chase noted he later posted about the calls on the Nextdoor app. “Several people said they had the same problem,” Chase said. “I see it as a big problem. I thought, what if my house was on fire? What if my wife had a heart attack and they weren’t answering 911, what do you do?” Chase said. City response In a statement, the city of Minneapolis told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that last month it answered 83% of 911 calls within 15 seconds and 90% within 30 seconds. The city said staffing is reduced by the demanding nature of the job and leave for illness and family needs. “I’m very concerned about it,” Chase said, adding that he wants the city to add more dispatchers. “The only solution I see is hire more 911 operators,” Chase said. The full statement from Joni Hodne, the director of Minneapolis Emergency Communications Center/911, can be read below: “Our goal has always been to meet and exceed the national standard of answering 90% of calls within 15 seconds, but the difficulty of achieving those standards has increased considerably. “ In October 2026, MECC/ 911 answered 83% of calls within 15 seconds and 90% of calls within 30 seconds. While this is not where we want to be, it is critical to recognize that quickly answering 911 calls requires more than simply having authorized positions filled. The demanding nature of this profession, combined with the wide variety of leave options for illness and family needs, reduces available staffing. Although these factors are necessary realities of managing any workforce, they directly affect the number of employees available to answer calls at any given time. “ Combine this reality with an increase in complexity of calls – especially mental health calls – that require more time to ensure we provide the right response. We also face significant ongoing training that takes experienced employees away from the call floor. And our newer employees naturally need a little more time to process calls as they gain experience. Our expectations have not changed, but meeting the standards and demands without significant overtime costs and creating burnout is a constant challenge.”