Karima Holmes, the former director of D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications, will be returning to her old job.

The local news outlet STATter911 was first to report the news that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was poised to announce Holmes’ reappointment to the agency, which handles the city’s 911 and 311 calls system.

Holmes first took over OUC in 2015. While there, she overhauled the agency’s technical infrastructure and software platforms, introduced a 911 texting service, and instituted a new dispatching protocol for emergency responders. But she also led the agency while it was under intense scrutiny for its performance and alleged mishandling of dispatches, including a case in which a woman died after first responders were sent to the wrong address.

“During her tenure at OUC, Director Holmes created infrastructural redundancy for the OUC emergency operations and launched the Office of Professional Standards and Development,” Bowser said in a press release announcing Holmes’ return to D.C. government. “A seasoned public safety professional and a recognized emergency communications industry leader, over the past two decades, Director Holmes has served as executive director at emergency communications centers (ECC) across the U.S., where she overhauled their technical infrastructure and critical public safety programs.”

Holmes left the position in January 2021, as the agency faced an audit regarding the dispatch mistakes. At the time, Bowser did not specify Holmes’ reason for leaving, but said the agency had gotten better under Holmes’ leadership and said she had “an incredible opportunity for herself and her family.” Holmes then assumed the role of Director of Incident Review Centers at ShotSpotter, Inc., a technology company that contracts with more than 100 municipalities — including the District — to help detect gunshots. (In recent years, investigations have raised questions about the accuracy of ShotSpotter data, and activists have argued the faulty data leads to unnecessary police contact with residents.)

The results of the OUC audit, which were published in October, found that D.C. fell short of national standards for dispatching first responders in a timely manner. It noted that people who answered 911 calls sometimes struggled to pinpoint the exact locations of callers, and it also found that during the summer months, the dispatch times for high-priority calls in wards 7 and 8 — the majority-Black wards east of the Anacostia River — were approximately 20% longer than other wards because of high call volume and a shortage of police units.

“The report notes that OUC is staffed with dedicated, well-intentioned professionals and that the issues identified by FE [Federal Engineering Inc., the company conducting the audit] regarding call-taking and dispatch operations can be corrected to improve service to residents and responders,” wrote D.C. auditor Kathy Patterson at the time.

In response to the audit, interim director Cleo Subido said that the agency had already made “significant process” shortening the time it took to answer calls, and said that call takers were adopting more sophisticated location-finding tools. Subido will remain in D.C. government as the Executive Liaison to OUC for D.C. Fire and EMS, according to Bowser’s press release.