Nebraska 911 outages ‘no longer seeming random,’ state senator says
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Several law enforcement agencies across the state are looking into another problem with their emergency phone lines.
Multiple agencies said they were unable to take 911 calls for about an hour on Tuesday.
The Lincoln Police Department was one of the agencies affected.
But thanks to a recent technology, dispatchers in Lincoln were able to manage the outage.
Its Rapid SOS system keeps track of attempted 911 calls.
“We did utilize cellphones to call 911 callers back,” said Jessica Loos, coordinator of the Lincoln Emergency Communications Center.
The cause of the outage is under investigation.
This isn’t the first time that law enforcement has had to deal with this problem this year.
There were two statewide outages last summer, both caused by problems at local communication companies.
The Nebraska Public Service Commission said there is an ongoing investigation to find the roots of the problem.
The commission said it expects to hold hearings on the outages in the near future.
Sen. John Fredrickson, who’s on the Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee, said these outages are unacceptable.
He said the “back-to-back outages” in the summer “felt a bit precarious.”
“Now it’s sort of third time’s a charm,” Fredrickson said. “This is no longer seeming random; this is seeming more like a pattern.”
Fredrickson said he’s following the investigation closely and will move forward with legislation if needed.
Lincoln Police said there are options available if their phone lines go down in the future.
Officials said to still call 911 first. Your number will be logged, and a dispatcher will try to get back to you. You can also text 911 and receive a link for a livestream.
You can also contact one of three cellphone numbers:
- 402-326-5072
- 402-580-4658
- 402-405-6766o
