Old, outdated equipment to blame for 911 call center failures
The audit of Houston's troubled 911 call center has been completed and recommendations have been made. It appears the technical problems stem from old equipment:
The $53 million Houston Emergency Center, which has experienced 17 computer shutdowns since it started taking calls in September 2003, is more than 99.7 percent reliable, according to independent auditors.
MITRE Corp., hired by the city for $192,000, blamed most of the shutdowns on outdated equipment outside the HEC facility, located at 5320 N. Shepherd. Most of the problems have been fixed and are not are expected to occur again, while several are still being addressed.
[snip]
Dennis Storemski, director of the Mayor's Office of Public Safety and Homeland Security, said that Northrop Grumman, the Los Angeles-based contractor that provided the dispatching software wasn't at fault.
[snip]
The auditors made several recommendations that the city has already implemented, or plans to implement soon. They include:
•Establishing staff positions to manage some technical aspects of the dispatching system;
•Increasing maintenance and testing;
•Replacing old equipment and software;
•And developing better ways to ensure data is not lost.
On a KTRH news break yesterday, I heard a recommendation that the city should also consolidate and upgrade the emergency radio system used by Houston police and fire personnel. KHOU-11 covered the story of Houston's inadequate emergency radio system in February, and at that time Mayor White said this:
"It's not a problem that's going to be solved in one day. It will be over a period of years," said Mayor Bill White.
Maybe now Houston's emergency system infrastructure will become a priority for city officials.
RELATED: Fixing HEC (blogHOUSTON), Can the Houston Emergency Center be fixed? (blogHOUSTON), Public safety priorities (blogHOUSTON)
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/25/05 08:45 AM | Print |
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