R.I. State Police: 911 services functioning properly
By: Sarah E. Rooney
Email: srooney@abc6.com
Twitter: @ABC6
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Rhode Island State Police announced Wednesday that its 911 service was temporarily experiencing technical difficulties.
At 9:59 A.M., the Rhode Island State Police department tweeted that its E-911 systems were experiencing issues and asked that residents call their local state and fire departments with any emergencies until the problem was fixed.
URGENT – The Rhode Island E-911 System is experiencing technical problems. Rhode Islanders are asked to contact their local police and fire departments with any emergency until this issue is resolved.
— RI State Police (@RIStatePolice) May 30, 2018
According to a post on the department website, the problem involved callers being unable to hear the telecommunicators on the other end of the line. The outage was experienced by 36 people.
At 10:23 A.M, a second tweet was released announcing that the 911 service had been restored.
URGENT – RI E911 System is functioning -REPEAT – RI E911 System service is fully operational and receiving emergency calls… Technical issues have been resolved.
— RI State Police (@RIStatePolice) May 30, 2018
Rep. Robert Nardolillo III, R-Coventry, has released a statement expressing disappointment regarding the incident, citing a necessity for updating R.I. Emergency systems:
"This situation proves that we must invest more in our state’s 911 system at all levels. I am proud of our telecommunicators and first responders for their hard work during this difficult time but this issue should have never happened in the first place. Public safety should be our top priority and we must do everything we can to ensure this is the last time our state is left without a fully operational E-911 system.
Rep. Robert B. Lancia, R-Cranston, also says that the service interruption indicates a need for allocating more funds to the 911 service:
“This is completely unacceptable. Our citizens depend on the 911 system to be there for them in the event of an emergency and today it let them down. We must accept that Rhode Island has a serious problem that must be addressed and that starts with ending the diversion of funds intended for 911. The additional money could be used to upgrade software or install backup systems to ensure that our telecommunicators are never left in this situation again.”
Rhode Island State Police has released on its website that the interruption lasted approximately 45 minutes. It has also announced that it believes the issue stemmed from a software problem.
The department is actively working with the vendor, Solacom, on finding the source and extent of the issue.
© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2018
