Standardized emergency dispatch protocols remove one bias while blocking filter checks on caller validity

Evidence

Many years ago, when emergency dispatch systems were first put into effect, it was the dispatchers’ responsibility to filter out which calls needed to be prioritized and which did not (International Academies of Emergency Dispatch, n.d.). This, unfortunately, did not provide for a fair and unbiased system, considering that the dispatch system typically sends off first responders to approximately 240 million calls each year. Starting with the 1980s, a protocol was put into effect to standardize dispatchers’ communication with callers. Today, most dispatch systems follow the protocol of the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED) and while this helps eliminate some forms of individual bias that could affect the caller (e.g., not sending help because the dispatcher does not believe the caller), it also makes it more difficult to filter out calls that are not urgent, or rather, calls that might not qualify as emergencies at all. The information that the dispatchers have to ask for before sending a first responder to the scene is very limited and includes the location of the emergency, the phone number the person is calling from, the nature of the emergency, and a physical description of the person suspected of committing a crime (National 911 Program, n.d.). — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 284

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to institutional-design literature on how fixing one bias point (dispatcher disbelief) relocates rather than removes bias down the chain.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law: A Definitive Look at…, 284