In 911 breakdown, hundreds of calls failed to reach Bronx operators
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The temporary breakdown of the system led to the failure of nearly 1,700 calls – about a third of the total made to a centre in the Bronx – to reach emergency operators.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Sally Goldenberg, Maria Cramer and Chelsia Rose Marcius
- A breakdown in New York City's 911 system on August 18 stopped about 1,700 calls from reaching operators at the Bronx centre for seven hours.
- Up to 400 callers may have failed to connect with an operator, prompting a city investigation and follow-up outreach to affected individuals.
- The cause of the glitch remains unknown, highlighting the vulnerability of the 911 system that handles around 10 million calls annually.
AI generated
NEW YORK – Part of New York City’s 911 system broke down on Aug 18, preventing hundreds of callers from reaching an emergency operator, a spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
The temporary breakdown of the system led to the failure of nearly 1,700 calls – about a third of the total made to a centre in the Bronx – to reach emergency operators, the spokesperson, Jeremy Edwards, said. Callers and call takers were unable to hear each other, he said.
“After accounting for alarm systems and duplicate calls, we believe up to 400 New Yorkers may have been unable to connect with a 911 call taker,” he said. The centre in the Bronx is one of the city’s two emergency call facilities.
The city is investigating the incident, Edwards said, adding: “We are focused on understanding exactly what happened, ensuring that affected callers receive the appropriate follow-up and taking whatever steps are necessary to prevent this from happening again.”
The breakdown lasted about seven hours, from 3am to 10am, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss it.
Edwards said that during the breakdown, 5,659 calls had come into 911.
It is not clear if callers who failed to reach the Bronx centre and then dialed 911 again were connected to the second centre in downtown Brooklyn, the people said.
It was also unclear on Aug 18 what caused the glitch and whether anyone experiencing an emergency failed to get an ambulance. But the breakdown was a reminder of the vulnerabilities of a system that receives roughly 10 million calls a year.
The first sign of the problem occurred around 3am, when Bronx police dispatchers, the first point of contact with 911 callers, heard only dead air on the other end of the line, according to the people with knowledge of the matter.
Gloria Chin, a spokesperson for the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation, which oversees the 911 call system’s technology, said repairs to the Bronx site were under way.
“New Yorkers calling 911 are again experiencing normal service,” Chin said. “911 staffers are conducting outreach to callers who were affected by the lapse.”
The Bronx call centre opened in 2016 to handle the huge intake of calls, following years of problems with the 911 system, including a 2013 episode when a four-year-old girl was struck by a car and died on an Upper West Side pavement waiting for an ambulance. NYTIMES
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
