A new audit shows that the King County Sheriff’s Office 911 center is doing a good job answering calls quickly but lacks a clear plan for mental health emergencies. While the center meets national speed standards, there are no official rules on how to connect callers to non-police help, such as the 988 crisis lifeline.
Since there is no standard process, police officers often have to handle these referrals themselves, which uses up limited law enforcement resources. This means some people calling about behavioral health issues might not get the specific follow-up care they need if a crime isn’t actually happening.
Audit flags major leadership and staffing issues
The report looked at how the center operated from 2020 through 2025 and identified several leadership and staffing problems. Currently, the center is run by a police captain who rotates out of the job rather than a permanent civilian leader with specific experience in emergency communications.
Auditors found that these frequent leadership changes have disrupted important projects, including plans to modernize how the county handles mental health calls. They suggest that having a permanent leader would help keep these safety initiatives on track and provide more stability for the office.
Staffing shortages are another major issue, with about one in six dispatcher and call-receiver positions currently sitting vacant. To cover these gaps, the center relies heavily on mandatory overtime, and half of that extra work is used just to fill in for people who are taking earned time off.
911 center meets speed targets but lacks modern tools
Supervisors are forced to create schedules by hand because they do not have modern scheduling software. This manual process takes up so much time that supervisors are unable to properly monitor the quality of the calls being answered by staff.
Despite these struggles, the communications center has been very successful at meeting national speed requirements for answering the phone. Since January 2024, the center has managed to answer 90% of all 911 calls within 15 seconds every single month.
King County 911 centers handle over 300,000 calls each year for unincorporated areas and 12 different contract partners. To keep improving, the Sheriff’s Office has agreed to all of the auditor’s suggestions, which include hiring a civilian leader, upgrading to better scheduling computer programs, and improving language access for callers.
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