Backup Systems and Emergency Plans Kept 911 Center Running

Read Time:3 Minute, 0 Second

(TNS) – The July 19 Microsoft glitch that caused outages of computer systems globally also affected Owensboro-Daviess County 911 dispatch.

But Director Paul Nave said the 911 center’s emergency backup systems allowed dispatchers to keep taking 911 calls, and that no calls were lost during the outage.

Nave told members of the 911 Advisory board about the effect of the outage Thursday. In an interview after the meeting, Nave said the center lost some functions during the outage, but that backup systems and emergency plans were put into use.

“It crippled us, but it did not take us down,” Nave said.

The backup system allowed dispatchers to continue taking calls through the outage, Nave said. The dispatch center’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system was down, so dispatchers had to log some call details on paper, which had to be entered into the CAD system later, Nave said.

The dispatch center’s ability to continue to function shows the importance of having an emergency plan and secondary systems, Nave said.

“It’s hard to justify paying for backup systems,” Nave said. “But when you need it, as we did, it pays for itself.”

Nave said he was able to get a “patch” from the dispatch system’s vendor to compensate for the outage. The patch had to be installed on each dispatch terminal, but was complete a few hours into the outage. “Within four hours, we were functional,” Nave said, and that, “we were 95 percent to 98 percent functional.”

Because the outage was global, there is little the 911 center can do to prevent something similar occurring again. “Trying to prevent something beyond your control is difficult sometimes,” Nave said, but that, “anticipating something like that could happen, we had our emergency plans, and we practice those once in a while.”

Nave said the advisory board Thursday also discussed an issue 911 centers are experiencing involving cell phone carriers.

Nave said when cell phone companies switched from third generation cellular technology to fourth and now 5G tech, some cellular companies stopped sending all of a caller’s data to 911, if the company owned the cell tower and the caller was on another company’s service.

What that means is, if a person calls 911 while “roaming” and the call hits a tower from a company that doesn’t send all data, dispatchers will receive the voice call, but no other information, such as the caller’s phone number.

Nave said that wasn’t an issue when cellular companies were using the 3G system, but that companies didn’t create agreements regarding all data when they switched to more advanced systems. “They (the companies involved) are saying they are meeting FCC requirements,” Nave said. But if a call is dropped and dispatchers don’t have the caller’s number, there’s no way for dispatch to reach them, Nave said

Also, with voice-only calls, “if you can’t talk, we can’t reach you,” he said.

Nave said 911 officials will be working with the Federal Communications Commission, to update laws so carriers must provide all of a caller’s data to 911.

“The carriers are capable of doing it,” Nave said.