36 American Police Beat: January 2018 by Brianna Dunn P olice officials in Dallas announced they’ve solved a problem plagu- ing the department. The amount of time it takes operators to pick up when people dial 911 is now back to where it should be, thanks to a combination of a hiring spree, a little re- modeling, and complaints from citizens. Executive Assistant Chief David Pughes said that the Dallas Police Dept. has undertaken an aggressive hiring effort and made efforts to im- prove morale and work- ing conditions for the people taking the calls. The average 911 call is now answered within two seconds. Earlier this year, the average hold time increased to a dangerous 22 seconds. White moose lives matter T here’s nothing more controver- sial than a “White M o o s e L i v e s Matter” rally. Actually there was n o r a l l y , a n d v e r y little controversy. Welcome to Sweden. After a Swedish pol- itician captured video of a large white moose while walking through the woods he knew he had some good footage. But he never knew it would go viral/global. He must not be an inter- net guy because generally speaking “Albino Moose Spotted in Sweden!” is not the kind of thing jamming up everyone’s Facebook “news” feed. Two months after the footage was posted, Swed- ish police decided to allow hunters to go after the white moose in the video because it had injured a lady jogger and her dogs in a dispute over rights of the road. Then hell broke loose. There were angry phone calls, animal rights protestors and all kinds of hubbub. Then police caved and said the animal would be spared. One local officer said hunting’s huge in the area but no one wanted to be known as the person that shot the famous moose. As far as the people that spent time getting in- volved in this deal – they can be broken down into three groups. The first group wanted the moose to be spared because of its rare col- or. The second group thought all mooses should be spared. The third group was upset that the white moose appeared to be getting “white moose privilege” because of its rare complexion. Needless to say, now there are day trips where they take you through the woods in the hopes that you can spot Whitey Moosey McMooseface. City officials have blamed the problems on staffing shortages, out- dated technology and issues with the wireless carrier T-Mobile. The city acknowledg- es that more should’ve been done to resolve this in the past, but they’re glad to see that the posi- tive changes being made are effective. In March, the city was down to just 60 call takers and 12 trainees – record low numbers that left the call center in sham- bles. Pughs said they were “hanging by a thread.” However, by last month the number had increased to 67 call takers. There were also 26 officers work- ing as call takers on spe- cial assignment and 43 people were in the process of being trained. Enough progress was made that the team of neighborhood patrol offi- cers was able to get back on the street after working all summer as call takers. The rest of the officers on special assignment should be out of the call center by December. The 911 call center, which is in the department basement, is undergoing renova- tions to make it a more pleasant and comfortable place to work. The job is already very stressful as it is and employees re- ceive relatively low pay. Pughes said officials are hoping to make more improve-ments in the work areas in the coming months, including new computers and phone systems and new paint in the 911 call center. He said they’ll also reconsid- er some of the barriers to hiring, such as poly- graph tests. Brianna Dunn is a special correspondent for American Police Beat. After taking heat 911 call center does better Swedish cops made call on hunting Moose are the largest of all the deer species. Males can be spotted due to their huge antlers. They can run at about 35MPH and are excellent swimmers. ★ ★