The public wasn’t notified about a 911 outage until about three hours after problems began because the Honolulu Police Department was struggling to come up with an alternate means of communication, officials said Monday.
Police are investigating what caused the 911 outage and failure of the regular backup system.
After years of missed deadlines and documented safety issues surrounding the rollout of California’s Next Generation 911 system, project insiders are now speaking out, saying they feel compelled to warn the public about “major problems” with the years-long overhaul that has cost Californians nearly a half-billion dollars and counting.
California is in the midst of a massive overhaul of its aging, landline-based 9-1-1 emergency call system, with project leaders promising the ground-breaking “Next Generation 911” (NG911) network will suffer fewer outages, deliver improved location accuracy, and better connect more than 440 emergency call centers across the state.
The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) made recommendations to FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s office to issue proposed rulemaking on additional interoperability requirements for 9-1-1 providers. Specifically, APCO suggested that the emergency communication centers (ECC) which each provider serves should be able to certify their ability to transfer traffic to other ECCs located in at least three other states. This certification will demonstrate the ECCs’ capabilities to provide mutual aid to neighboring ECCs as well as troubleshoot misdirected IP-based traffic. APCO also suggested the FCC expand upon technical requirements for providers, such as record management and upgrading existing technology.
It’s another tool for people who are in dangerous situations where texting is safer than calling, as well as those who are hearing impaired.
