TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It was a surge of calls unlike a typical evening in Tucson.
When a shooting broke out at Park Place Mall on March 18, Tucson’s 911 system was quickly flooded with calls, receiving 177 in just 15 minutes, according to the city’s Public Safety Communications Department.
At the time of the incident, officials say there were seven critical call takers handling 911 calls. Supervisors stepped in to help manage the sudden influx, but the director says that kind of spike would challenge any call center.
To put it in perspective, Tucson usually gets about 100 emergency calls in an hour.
Mike Garcia, director of the City of Tucson’s Public Safety Communications Department, explained how the center handles a flood of calls. “We recognize during those events that we're gonna get a lot of calls, repeat calls for the same thing, and we have to balance that with the need to see if there's any new information or critical information from that event, but also be aware that there are other new events that are going to happen during that time elsewhere in the city.”
Officials say when call volumes spike, the system is designed to find the next available operator after 120 seconds. This can mean transferring calls. “The calls do roll over to another call center. Pima County Sheriff is our closest backup. Unfortunately, what they have to do is reroute that back to us when we're busy so it does become a circular thing,” Garcia explains.
Because of that, dispatchers urge callers to stay on the line if possible. Hanging up can slow down the response, as operators then have to spend time calling people back.
“We ended up spending over 45 minutes of combined call taker time in that same 15 minutes with all of our staff calling back callers who had dialed in and hung up,” Garcia said.
If a caller does hang up, they may receive a call back or an automated message asking if they still need assistance.
“The average wait time before people hung up was 58 seconds, so a lot of people did hang on quite a long time before they were frustrated, which, like I said, every second feels like a minute, every minute feels like an hour when you're calling 911,” Garcia said.
Officials emphasize that despite delays during high-volume events, calling 911 is still the fastest way to get help in an emergency. For those who cannot speak safely, texting 911 is also an option.
The department says staffing remains a priority, with six new hires expected to begin taking calls within the next month.
The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing, and no suspects have been arrested.
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Athena Kehoe is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2024 after graduating from Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Athena by emailing athena.kehoe@kgun9.com or by connecting on X/Twitter.
