Subject: [NEXTEL-1] City council ready to tackle dispatch system glitches

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 10:20:35 -0400

City council ready to tackle dispatch system glitches

By Andy Cerota
ABC13 Eyewitness News
9/29/03

 HOUSTON

Complaints continue to mount up for Houston's new emergency dispatch center.
City officials are demanding some answers.

The city council has called a special meeting today to get to the bottom of
the problems.

Center administrators will be put on the spot Monday, and city leaders will
insist they come up with two different time tables. The first should
pinpoint the exact problems with the brand new system. The second should
document when the glitches in the system will be fixed.

The city's new emergency center has been sharply criticized since going
online last Tuesday. Houston's order of police gave the center a thumbs
down.

Critics argue that dispatchers and call-takers have not been adequately
trained, and they claim the computer system was not sufficiently tested.
Some even say the new system is jeopardizing public safety because police
officers are struggling to get important information from the computers in
their cars. The computer information used to be easily and readily
accessible.

A source tells Eyewitness News that at one point on Sunday, 500 calls were
on hold because of system glitches. City leaders want answers as the bugs in
the system are putting Houston's reputation on the line.

"A lot of loose ends need to be tied up," said Mark Goldberg of the Houston
City Council. "Luckily for the city we didn't build the dispatch center. It
was sub-contracted out. And there is an out clause that if this building
doesn't work for the city then we can vacate the building and get out of
lease altogether."

Houston's safety director says he stands behind the new facility and
believes the glitches will be ironed out soon. He also added that all of the
concerns and problems that cross his desk are taken very seriously.

 http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/92903_local_dispatch.html

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