Three months after the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) paused the deployment of its Next Generation 911 system over concerns the technology was prone to failures that put public safety at risk, new leadership within the agency laid out plans Wednesday to move the problematic and delayed system forward. Candice Nguyen reports.
Three months after the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) paused the deployment of its Next Generation 911 system over concerns the technology was prone to failures that put public safety at risk, new leadership within the agency laid out plans Wednesday to move the problematic and delayed system forward.
“We’re looking for the kind of technology that California deserves,” new Cal OES Chief Deputy Director Lisa Mangat said at Wednesday’s State 911 Advisory Board meeting.
Mangat recently took over for Budge Currier, the architect of the state’s Next Gen 911 system who left the agency last year. The project was designed to bring California's legacy 911 system, built around landlines, into the cell phone age.
“This pause gives us the opportunity to really do a review of the technology,” Mangat said. “Not just from the technology side, not just the equipment and network, but also the business side of it, the lived experience of [911 call centers].”
As NBC Bay Area previously reported, some of the first 911 centers to first go live with the Next Gen network experienced major issues they say put public safety in jeopardy, such as outages and misrouted calls.
In November, shortly after Currier’s departure from the agency, the 911 Advisory Board questioned whether Cal OES had misled them about the extent of the issues plaguing the network.
Cal OES originally estimated every 911 center in the state – more than 400 in all – would be hooked up to the new network by 2021. But more than three years later, only 23 of them are using the system, according to the agency.
At Wednesday’s meeting, Mangat and Cal OES 911 Branch Manager Paul Troxel announced plans to help get the rollout back on track.
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Mangat said the agency recently brought in an outside consultant with experience on other large state projects to provide guidance. The advisory board also created a new subcommittee tasked with digging deeper into issues with the system.
WATCH NBC BAY AREA'S ENTIRE INVESTIGATION ON NEXT GEN - CA 911: TOO BIG TO FAIL
The agency also said they would be meeting with representatives from the 911 centers currently using Next Generation 911 technology to better address their needs.
“We want our team out there experiencing what the 911 center is experiencing,” Troxel said.
It's currently unclear exactly when the state will resume rolling out its new 911 system.
Mangat said the agency’s system-wide review would be completed this spring and would give the agency a clear picture of “what moving forward looks like” on the Next Gen project, which she said was still a priority for the agency.
Candice Nguyen is the investigative reporter on this story. If you want to reach her about Next Generation 911, email candice.nguyen@nbcuni.com.
