Commentary by: Jillian A. Cohen | ja_cohen@theconcernedcitizen.net
We’ve featured several reports over the years calling for real change, both 
internally and externally, at DC’s 911 center. Citizens of the District have seen a host of Directors paraded through the communications division since it was taken from under the control of the Police (MPD) and Fire (DCFD) chiefs respectively and the Office of Unified Communications was established. Which, in my estimation, was the worst decision ever made by a Mayor. Its seems as though money was the motive instead of citizen concern and our citizens have suffered ever since.
Unless the aforementioned decision is reversed and the chiefs are restored to full control or the new Director initiates serious and immediate change, I fear that 911 will continue to be a JOKE in DC and our citizens will continue suffer and die, which is not a joke at all.
Filed under: Commentary
Dateline: Washington, D.C. 
Sounds to me like someone has a personal vendetta against a woman who is doing her job. It’s a known fact that OUC has quite a few lazy and incompetent workers who doesn’t like to come to work, much less respect and obey instructions given by higher ups. It seems this negative energy can be directed in a more positive direction to help correct the agency instead of lashing out on two individuals.
Do your job and help people….after all that’s what your there to do anyway. Or are you??
You’re right and you’re wrong. True, there are subpar employees there but when you have a job fair cancelled by the Mayor for Life because he can’t stuff enough unqualified Ward 8 denizens in the place what do you think you’re going to get. As for your other observation, you’re wrong – ask the 3 gentlemen who were her mentors, all far more than competent employees that she stabbed in the back to climb over their carcasses to get herself promoted. She has a history of vindictiveness since she walked in the door almost 20 years ago. She claimed a D.C. address for years but lived in Takoma Park with her mother, stating “where I lay my head is nobody’s business”, the same position taken by a D.C. Fire Chief who promptly retired when his residency was questioned.
What are you there for? Far had usef
Apparently, it’s not for the goodness of
this Agency, perhaps maybe for your paycheck and creating a hostile work environment. A bunch of divided controlling individuals. (Drama Queens)
Be real! (Far had usef) It’s no getting right in the OUC with the management team in place. Stop trying to make it look as if you want to work on a problem. It’s been years and this agency continues to fall and fail the employees and the citizens of the District. Which it’s not the employees nor the citizens, its you! I’m sure you know about people that have left this agency, just because of your treatment. You forced the good people to retire, when in fact they weren’t ready to go. They enjoyed what they did by helping people. Technically the only thing management worries about is STATS AN A BODY!
Ask them the truth about (STATS)? Pure Scrutiny !
Remember, You all will Reap what you Sow!
These legitimate concerns don’t really address the head of the snake, the CIO who is the one that put all of these managers in place. After Ms. Quintana left he was interim Director and that’s when the agency went on an accelerated down slide which culminated in an exodus of good people and filled these positions, as well as creating new managerial positions, with unqualified, incompetent cronies such as Ms. Bucksell. He has become the most powerful and feared person in the agency and has had absolute power over every aspect of the agency from IT (troubled tablets, CAD, and Sentinal systems) to HR and operations. The promotion and hiring of these managers must be reciprocated with obedience and loyalty to the CIO. I think the entire management team should replaced with good managers that value talent and can motivate the employees to rebuild and create a world class PSAP. This now is a very toxic and hostile environment and a ‘fresh start’ will be akin to the lightness in the air after an Exorcism.
Hello All. This is Karima Holmes the acting Director of OUC. Thanks for the comments and bringing this to my attention. I take these things very serious. As you may know this is just my third week in the district (the first week was during the Blizzard, eek!). But rest assured, I am absorbing all the information I’m receiving; particularly, info I can use to develop and maintain a proper functioning PSAP for our nation’s capital. I have had a career in public safety communications for over 15 years now and have had the misfortune of working in a mismanaged, uncomfortable work environment. I will not allow that to happen under my watch. As a leader, I assure you I will seek out the toxicity, correct or eliminate it. I have dedicated myself to evaluate this center from the personnel to the procedures and filter whatever/whomever proves to be counter productive to the ultimate goal of providing emergency communications and customer service(s) to the District’s citizens, responders and visitors. Lastly, I ask that you allow me grace to do my due diligence and fully investigate the root. Thanks
Thanks for your response Director Holmes, we will happily post this message on the Concerned Citizen. Real and substantial change at your agency has been a long time coming, so we are quite sure this will be welcomed news to the dedicated folks under your command and to the concerned citizens of the District of Columbia.
The OUC is a botched abortion that lived. The city took 2 functional agencies and dumped them into one dysfunctional group based on some pie-in-the-sky concept that Mayor Williams bought lock, stock and barrel. The OUC model had 18 Universal Call Takers on duty 24 hours a day. Go look on your floor and see how many are out there. Your predecessors handed back FTE positions to save money every year rather than stand up to the Council and risk their cushy jobs. In the history of the OUC, there’s been one director who actually had Fire, Police , EMS field experience and Communications Center Management experience. He was run off so a marshmallow whose only experience was running a 40 hour a week non-emergency call center. The FEMS and MPD management chewed her up and spit her out and the OUC further declined. Greene was only there as patronage from Mayor Gray. She knew nothing about the operation of an emergency operations center allowing the Demon Spawn to stab her mentors in the back and have them discharged so she could grab power. Under her rule, competent supervisors either retired, quit or requested demotion. Most of the FEMS supervisors are former problem child employees who were habitually late, leave abusing and barely competent operators but took their positions for the money and were then reminded they had to do Ms. Bucksell’s bidding no matter how ridiculous because she controlled the strings they were dancing on and as MSS employees she could terminate them at will. Thus starts the culture of fear which then trickles down to the floor staff who feel rushed to do their work, often inaccurately, because the almighty call stats are what drives the operation. Now onto that lovely building that houses your operation – designed, built and arranged with zero input from the end user. 50+ people in a room with a 30 foot ceiling is great for a gymnasium…not a call center. The room is annoyingly noisy, comfortable temperatures are impossible, the furnishings are crap, the restroom facilities are woefully inadequate, the staffing levels are so horrible employees are forced to work in excess of their shift with an inequitable break system, there is no decent, comfortable break area to decompress except for a small room that’s no longer quiet or comfortable once you pile 4 people in it. Go see how many employees have had to have corrective surgery to repair damage to their wrists from overwork and poor equipment. Then Ms. Bucksell pulls out her MD and tells them when they’d better come back and not what their physican recommends. Perhaps, if not terminated, Ms. Bucksell could be demoted to call taker and reap what she’s sown.
If you don’t enact some meaningful change quickly, you will unfortunately fall into the same category as your predecessors…the same candy bar in a different wrapper.
Best of luck to you Ms. Holmes…you’ll need it. Unless you
Director Holmes everyone is hoping for change but the toxicity you mentioned is the Operations Manager Ingrid Bucksell everyone from the calltakers, dispatchers,field providers and I won’t be surprised if its even anonymous supervisors are singing the same tune but no one will listen to the chorus. What kind of agency is the OUC when the supervisors tell the employees that whomever is posting on The Concerned Citizen site is going to be fired per Ingrid Bucksell. Now the employees are being threatened with their jobs for telling the truth and using their Constitutional right of Freedom of Speech. I didn’t know that Ingrid Bucksell could terminate employees but I guess she can continue to manipulate the facts and do whatever she wants when her cousin T Alex Morris is the Human Resource Manager. Case in point how come no one has addressed the AWOL and supensions that were issued to the employees? Employees money was taken out of their checks immediately and no one in Management has met with the affected employees yet despite the assurances of your upper management staff. You really need to do your research and look at the facts. Maybe you should bring in your own people anything is better than the management staff you have. I hope that you aren’t lead down the same path as others because has you’re aware the workers have been replaced but management never changes at the OUC hint hint.
Thanks Ms. Holmes. Please investigate your Human Resource Manager (T. Alex Morris) Ingrid Bucksell alleged cousin. He’s very arrogant and has/is creating a lot of issues for the agency that will affect you.
Ingrid Bucksell ordered the management staff at the Office of Unified Communications to suspend any employee who did not make it to work during the snow emergency. All employees were AWOL for any days missed and now they are being suspended for two days automatically across the board. There is no precedence for this. Understandable that 911 is an important and essential position but according to management they were a few employees less than ten who could not get to work. Many employees were stuck and stayed despite the horrible accomodations provided by the agency. The agency refused to assist employees with getting to work and they did not have adequate accomodations. Employees were forced to share cots and there still were not enough to around. The employees slept in cold offices because conveniently the heat was not functioning properly. The building had no hot water and managment provided little to no food for 911; whereas Homeland Security had food catered. I’ve seen gas station restrooms that looked better than the OUC restrooms and the offices that were used for sleeping smelled because due to the snow housekeeping staff was unable to get to the building. Now, back to the suspensions ordered by the real Director of the OUC Ingrid Bucksell. The employees are now being forced to lose two days of pay despite many of the employees providing documentation stating they were under a doctors care or FMLA Family Medical Leave Act, stuck, or approved leave the day or days before now they’re going to lose an additional two days of pay totaling four days because the Director Ingrid Bucksell has decided that the employees wil be penalized twice aka “Double Jeopardy.” Ingrid Bucksell has a boss directly over her despite her walking around with her God complex and T. Alex Morris as her enforcer. The Deputy Director of Operations is merely a figurehead he is too nice, naive, and green to be in his position and Bucksell leads him by his nose which is what has occurred to his many precedessors who she helped them be removed from their position and she conveniently assumed their positions. When she says jump the Deputy Director of Operations says how high and where it’s sad. The employees don’t even feel comfortable talking to him because everyone knows Ingrid Bucksell is the real Director. No matter how many times a new agency head has been placed at OUC everyone from the first, second, and third floor the entire building knows Bucksell is calling the shots and that is why these so-called professional qualified Directors are embarrassed and humiliated before City Council because they don’t head the employees warnings, and they don’t pay attention to the snake in their mist Ingrid Bucksell. It is sickening watching her and Gizelle Richards sucking up to the new Director and chomping at the bit, when these same individuals never had two words to say to the employees before. The employees at the OUC are already unfortunately doubtful about Ms. Holmes because we have been down this road many times before. If the D.C. Government wants to alleviate some of the lawsuits and media coverage then Ingrid Bucksell must be removed you can ask any employee at the OUC and everyone will say the same thing. Ingrid Bucksell has openly bragged that she is the most hated person in the building and she will not stop until she becomes Director. Well in many people’s opinion she is already the Director only not officially. I am well aware that they’re about five or ten people which maybe stretching it who love Ingrid Bucksell because you have personally benefited from her deviance but she is detrimental to the citizens of DC Governement, OUC employees, and society as a whole. If anyone doubts the validity of my statements just look at the previous post and comments the same name keeps coming up Ingrid Bucksell. I just have a question can someone clarify is she Director or not??
Wow! Thanks for your comment SNJ. This is unbelievable. We’ve heard from others but this really takes the cake. The director and the mayor need to take note. The Concerned Citizen will pass the link to this page on by email. Hopefully they will respond in kind. I’m sure this is not what our citizens are paying their taxes for.
This sounds like a union issue.
I’ve been employed at the agency over 20 years and it’s not a joke. Our job is very stressful and the issue is that too many people have their hands in the pot and not allow the director to run the agency; as they see fit. I believe that the new director will work out fine because she has worked her way through a 911 center. The main issue inside the agency is Ingrid Bucksell and T. Alex Morris (Human Resource Manager); her cousin. These two are constant unnecessary thorns in the employees sides for no reason. It’s usually because she does not like someone and gets T. Alex Morris to go after the employees. She has no education, no people skills, and very vindictive. They are two immature people in powerful positions. If the new director start by removing Ingrid Buckell and her cousin “T. Alex Morris” from these position and get people that are there to make the agency better and not bring stress to those that are required to service the citizens of the District of Columbia; it can make a different. You may not think that these two are an issue; but believe me, they play a major role in a lot of mishaps and issues within the agency. Lets start with removing Ingrid Bucksell and T. Alex Morris because it will take an act of God to move us back under MPD.
Thanks for your comment. I hear you and you’re probably right. We’ve been hearing more and more about the two people you mentioned. I even sent a link to one of the comments about Ms. Bucksell to the director’s email address. Maybe your union should show-up, in large numbers, at the new director’s first hearing before the city council and raise some of these concerns, also the Inspector General’s office should be notified, they just may start an internal investigation.
You’re absolutely correct when you say money over concern for citizen’s safety. The center can remain on MLK avenue; however, I think that the mayor should put MPD dispatch back under the authority of the police chief and Fire/EMS dispatch back under the authority of the fire chief. In fact move the Fire/EMS dispatch personnel back to McMillan Drive, that way both centers can remain operational at all times which means there is always a back-up center in service.