MEMPHIS, Tenn. — First responders are asking the public for help as staffing problems and high call volumes delay 911 response times.
It was an extremely busy weekend for Memphis Police as they responded to multiple shootings, burglaries, and crashes. Firefighters at the scene of one of those crashes had to wait hours for police to arrive, and in that time a car crashed into a fire truck.
Just before 3:30 Saturday morning, Memphis firefighters were on the scene of a two-car crash off I-240 near Getwell when another car slammed into the fire truck.
One person in that car died. Three firefighters were taken to the hospital but they are expected to be okay.
Firefighters waited hours before police could show up for the initial two-car crash call.
“My understanding is it was between three and a half to four hours,” said Memphis Firefighters Association President Thomas Malone. “So our people were there waiting on the police. We had our proper blockers there protecting the people that were working.”
We asked Memphis Police about the delayed response. In a statement, a spokesperson told us, “Calls are handled according to priority. The original crash call was a two-vehicle crash with no injuries initially reported. On this scene, a fullsize fire truck had blocked the traffic lanes while using emergency flashing lights.”
They also told us officers were responding to several high-priority calls during that time including an officer-involved shooting, a double homicide, several critical shootings, and several robberies.
“When you look at fire and police in the city of Memphis the call volume is astronomical compared to cities our size and our population. So it’s not like, I don’t want anybody to think that people was derelict in their duty but things have to be prioritized when you have less resources to handle things with,” Malone said.
When it comes to Memphis Police staffing, the department told us 166 officers have left the department for various reasons this year. Overall, there are currently 1,971 officers in the department.
MPD has a short-term goal of getting to 2,300 officers by the end of 2023. The overall goal is 2,500 officers.
As first responders continue to respond to calls in the city, Malone said they need the public’s help. He is asking the public to stay alert and pay attention to emergency vehicles.
“The public needs to be cognizant of, that may be your relative, that may be your child, that may be your husband or wife, so treat it as such. We teach our people to treat everyone like they’re your relative when on the scene. That’s what we’re asking you to do,” Malone said.
MPD has been hosting multiple recruiting events as well as offering incentives for officers. The department also told us there are two classes in the academy. One of them is set to graduate in March of next year. The other is set to graduate in June.
