Washington, DC — On Thursday, Councilmember Christina Henderson introduced the Retired Firefighter and Police Officer Redeployment Amendment Act of 2023. This legislation would grant retired firefighters from the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (FEMS) and retired police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) eligibility for rehire at the discretion of the Director of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) as temporary full-time or temporary part-time 911 call takers or 911 dispatchers without decreasing their retirement benefits.  

“The Office of United Communications (OUC) has struggled in recent years to maintain minimum staffing levels in critical departments. In October of this year, there was a total of 67 shifts for 911 call takers and dispatchers. However, 30 of those shifts did not meet staffing targets. This has been a trend for several months now. These staffing gaps complicate OUC’s efforts to deliver timely and high-quality frontline emergency response services to District residents,” Councilmember Henderson highlighted.  

“This legislation would give OUC access to a bigger pool of candidates to minimize staffing shortages,” Henderson continued. “Retired firefighters and police officers would be valuable additions to OUC’s 911 operations, as they are already familiar with dispatch operations from the FEMS and MPD perspectives. I appreciate the efforts of Washington DC Firefighters Local 36 working with my office to get this legislation right.”

The  Retired Firefighter and Police Officer Redeployment Amendment Act of 2023 was co-introduced by Councilmembers Brianne K. Nadeau, Matthew Frumin, Zachary Parker, Brooke Pinto, Charles Allen, Robert C. White, Jr., Janeese Lewis George, Anita Bonds, and Kenyan McDuffie.

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