No reason for the service outage has been publicly identified. However, in Texas, the Del Rio Police Department said the problem was caused by “an outage with a major cellular carrier.” The department did not name the carrier or immediately respond to an overnight request for comment from The Post for more details.
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety Tweeted It was “aware of statewide 911 service disruptions.” It urged people to text 911 instead and advised people not to call 911.
After the South Dakota Highway Patrol Tweeted “Service has been restored to the South Dakota 911 system,” adding: “Our emergency system is fully operational and ready to respond immediately to any situation. Your safety is our top priority.
The The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported the crash 911 calls from landlines and its non-emergency phone line were affected Wednesday evening. It urged people to call from a mobile device so they could be called back or text 911 instead. About two hours later, it said phone service had been restored and “all persons who called during the outage have been called back and assisted.”
Meanwhile, the Nevada State Police Emergency services were reported to be out for about 90 minutes in southern Nevada Wednesday night.
In Texas, the Del Rio Police Department said It was “aware of an outage with a major cellular carrier affecting the ability to reach 911. The problem lies with the carrier and not Del Rio Systems. … If you cannot reach 911 with your cell phone, use a landline or another carrier.
In Nebraska, officials reported outages in several counties. Officers in Douglas District In eastern Nebraska, “a partial outage of 911 was reported statewide,” with users “reporting a fast busy signal when calling.” Buffalo County Sheriff's Office Victims are urged to call non-emergency numbers instead. In southwestern Nebraska, the Dundee County Sheriff's Office It also referred people to its administrative hotline. It later said cellular and landline 911 services had been restored.
Among the malfunctions come National Public Safety Telecommunications WeekIt celebrates the work of emergency telephone workers across the United States.
Under normal circumstances, 911 calls are handled by trained public safety dispatchers. 240 million calls are made to 911 each year in the United States. According to To the National Emergency Number Association. 80 percent came from wireless devices rather than landlines.
Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that “we are aware of reports of 911-related malfunctions and we are currently investigating.” The Department of Homeland Security has yet to comment on the latest outages.
In February, outages at AT&T affected more than 1.7 million customers in the United States, affecting 911 centers in California, North Carolina and Texas. The centers asked customers to use a landline for emergency calls or find a cell phone that uses a different carrier. AT&T said the disrupted services were not caused by a cyber attack but by an error it made while expanding its network.
Last year, Arlington and Alexandria, Va., experienced problems with their 911 systems, preventing residents from making voice calls to emergencies.
In 2014, emergency phone services went dark for more than 11 million people in seven states. The entire state of Washington was cut off from 911, where 4,500 emergency calls failed to go through in an eight-hour period, according to the head of the state utility commission. An investigation by the Federal Communications Commission found that a preventable software bug was responsible for disrupting 911 service.
