MOUNT VERNON — Calls for domestic violence and drug-related calls were up in April, Knox County 911 Operations Director Laura Webster told the Knox County Commissioners Thursday.
The Knox County 911 dispatch center had 41 domestic violence calls in April, up from 36 in March. Overdose calls increased from five in March to seven in April, and drug-related calls were up from 13 in March to 19 in April.
The increases come even as calls to the Computer Aided Dispatch (CADs) have decreased month-to-month. There were 3,293 CAD calls in March, but only 2,677 in April.
How calls are categorized as they come in is determined by the dispatcher. Some call categories are later changed by request of first responders; for example, the dispatcher may determine a call is a domestic violence situation, but first responders will change it to a disturbance call, Webster said.
Also, drug overdose calls may be listed as cardiac arrest if the victim has no pulse when the call comes in. Webster noted that under the county’s new Zuercher CAD system, which is currently in the progress of being implemented, dispatchers can add notations — including whether a cardiac arrest call is believed to be a drug overdose — as more information becomes available.
The virus has made some changes in how dispatchers handle calls. They will ask if someone has symptoms of COVID-19, and pass along the information to first responders. Webster said dispatchers have recently started to recommend additional protections to callers when talking them through CPR.
Webster further reported that training on the new Zuercher CAD system is scheduled for the last week of June and the first week of July. The new system is expected to go live late on the morning of July 15.
