The District's 911 call system will get a new director, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Friday.
The change comes after the agency faced issues with dispatching first responders to the correct locations, and a long fight by Mayor Bowser to keep the current director.
Heather McGaffin will now take over as the acting director for the Office of Unified Communications.
"I was 22 years old when I took my first 911 call," McGaffin said on Friday. "I remember that call, I remember the thousands after that call."
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Bowser told reporters she believes McGaffin can move the agency in the right direction.
"[McGaffin is a] person who knows 911 from the inside and out, up from dispatching calls, to training staff, to supporting staff, and even if it's necessary to disciplining staff," Bowser said.
McGaffin takes over the agency after a series of problems with dispatching fire and EMS to the wrong locations, and after the DC council blocked Bowser's previous nominee for the job, Karima Holmes.
Former reporter Dave Statter, a safety advocate who has been critical of DC's 911 call center, has concerns about Bowser's choice.
"One of the big concerns is she's never run a big city 911 center," Statter said. "She was part of the administration and the leadership that had problems there at D.C. 911, and continues to have problems."
McGaffin joined DC's 911 call center in 2020 and became deputy director one year ago.
On Friday, McGaffin acknowledged there's room for improvement at the agency.
"I've worked here at OUC through two administrations, and we have work to do. And we're going to do that work," she said. "And we are going to remain strong in the work that we do, and remain transparent and accountable in that work."
McGaffin was asked about holding employees at the call center responsible if they make mistakes.
"We have to decide what accountability means, to us, to the public, to the residents -- to everyone within the city. So we're going to start there and then we're gonna build from that."
She also promised transparency from the agency.
"And we are going to remain transparent. We're going to be providing things online, you can find those things now. We're going to be expanding that, and we're going to put together a comprehensive plan that we're going to share out in the next couple of months."
