The Race to an Emergency is an hour-long radio documentary about Oakland's 911 system.
It was produced by KALW 91.7FM in San Francisco, where it aired first on October 8, 2013 and again on January 20, 2014.
Credits
Ali Budner - Reporter/Producer
Martina Castro - Host/Editor/Producer
Alyssa Kapnik - Assistant Producer
Seth Samuel - Sound Engineer
Ben Trefny - Executive Editor
Holly Kernan - News Director
Mary Willis - Fact Checker
Rai Sue Sussman - Fact Checker
Ali Budner and Martina Castro
Ali Budner is a radio producer based in Oakland, California. From 2010 to 2014, she produced Your Call, a daily live public affairs call-in show on KALW 91.7FM in San Francisco. She is moving on to pursue feature and documentary work. Ali discovered her love of radio in college while producing for the program, Inside Out, on Brown Student Radio. Since then, she has worked on features with The Kitchen Sisters, KPFA’s Full Circle, KALW’s Crosscurrents and The National Radio Project’s Making Contact. Ali's next step will be traveling to Fukushima, Japan with a group of journalists from San Francisco State University to work on a "restorative narratives" project. She'll be hearing the stories of residents still coping with the long term aftermath of the tsunami and radiation disaster of 2011.
Martina Castro is a radio producer and editor based in San Francisco, CA. She's co-founder and Senior Producer of the Spanish-language podcast Radio Ambulante, and just left her job as Managing Editor of KALW 91.7FM for a journalism Fulbright grant in Montevideo, Uruguay. Martina's independent work has aired nationally on NPR's All Things Considered and Morning Edition, performed for Pop Up Magazine, and has been recognized with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Public Radio Program Directors Association. She has produced a dozen live radio performances and has given numerous workshops/talks on the art of narrative radio storytelling across the U.S. and in Latin America.
The Story
The Race to an Emergency traces the path of a 911 call in Oakland, California. As we explore the inner-workings of this vital public service, we also aim to answer a bigger question about the emergency response system: does it serve all Oaklanders equally?
We begin our story with the two women who brought this question to our attention: Lesley Philips and Sharena Thomas. They believe the 911 system doesn’t respond as quickly to their neighborhoods, where predominantly low-income people of color live, and where violent crime is concentrated.
They know this violence personally. They have lost family members and neighbors. They say they’re tired of watching young black people die on the street while waiting for help. So they trained themselves in basic first aid and are now training their neighbors as well. They call themselves The People’s Community Medics.
The complaint that 911 responders show up late, particularly in black neighborhoods, is not new. Public Enemy rapped about it more than 20 years ago in their song 911 is a Joke.
To find out what 911 responders think about this claim, we ride along with emergency responders from the fire department, ambulance service, and police. All say they don’t profile people based on race, but they acknowledge real challenges in their work that lead to delayed responses in some areas of the city.
Here are some of the challenges we identify in Oakland’s 911 system:
1) A complex web of call dispatch centers where delays can occur.
2) Higher call volumes in low-income neighborhoods, which strains resources in those areas.
3) A policy called “staging,” designed to protect medical responders, but which can lead to mistrust and delays in care.
4) A history of racism and police brutality in Oakland which has created a culture of mistrust between law enforcement and the African American community.
Emotions surface as Lesley and Sharena struggle with this legacy and what it means for them today.
Through it all we try to answer our original question: Does 911 response time truly depend on where you live?
We worked with the Alameda County Public Health Department to analyze data from the paramedics and fire department, and found that their response times are longer in the neighborhoods in question, by a thin margin.
Police data was the missing link. It turns out the department doesn’t consistently keep track of officer response times. But, in response to to our questioning, they promised to improve their recording methods and provide better data to the public.
We conclude that a widespread lack of trust in 911 is as troubling as any real fault or disparity in the system.
This documentary deals specifically with Oakland, but its themes resonate more widely. Racism, the complex relationship between cops and civilians, the stress that makes 911 emergencies so volatile, and the desire of ordinary people to act in the face of perceived injustice, are universal realities.
More than a year of investigation allowed us a deep understanding of the competing perspectives on this complex problem. We offer a balanced and thorough report on this emotional issue that rests at the intersection of social justice, public service, and race relations.
The Race to an Emergency traces the path of a 911 call in Oakland, California. As we explore the inner-workings of this vital public service, we also aim to answer a bigger question about the emergency response system: does it serve all Oaklanders equally?
We begin our story with the two women who brought this question to our attention: Lesley Philips and Sharena Thomas. They believe the 911 system doesn’t respond as quickly to their neighborhoods, where predominantly low-income people of color live, and where violent crime is concentrated.
They know this violence personally. They have lost family members and neighbors. They say they’re tired of watching young black people die on the street while waiting for help. So they trained themselves in basic first aid and are now training their neighbors as well. They call themselves The People’s Community Medics.
The complaint that 911 responders show up late, particularly in black neighborhoods, is not new. Public Enemy rapped about it more than 20 years ago in their song 911 is a Joke.
To find out what 911 responders think about this claim, we ride along with emergency responders from the fire department, ambulance service, and police. All say they don’t profile people based on race, but they acknowledge real challenges in their work that lead to delayed responses in some areas of the city.
Here are some of the challenges we identify in Oakland’s 911 system:
1) A complex web of call dispatch centers where delays can occur.
2) Higher call volumes in low-income neighborhoods, which strains resources in those areas.
3) A policy called “staging,” designed to protect medical responders, but which can lead to mistrust and delays in care.
4) A history of racism and police brutality in Oakland which has created a culture of mistrust between law enforcement and the African American community.
Emotions surface as Lesley and Sharena struggle with this legacy and what it means for them today.
Through it all we try to answer our original question: Does 911 response time truly depend on where you live?
We worked with the Alameda County Public Health Department to analyze data from the paramedics and fire department, and found that their response times are longer in the neighborhoods in question, by a thin margin.
Police data was the missing link. It turns out the department doesn’t consistently keep track of officer response times. But, in response to to our questioning, they promised to improve their recording methods and provide better data to the public.
We conclude that a widespread lack of trust in 911 is as troubling as any real fault or disparity in the system.
This documentary deals specifically with Oakland, but its themes resonate more widely. Racism, the complex relationship between cops and civilians, the stress that makes 911 emergencies so volatile, and the desire of ordinary people to act in the face of perceived injustice, are universal realities.
More than a year of investigation allowed us a deep understanding of the competing perspectives on this complex problem. We offer a balanced and thorough report on this emotional issue that rests at the intersection of social justice, public service, and race relations.