As the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) investigates the scope of public safety concerns plaguing its “Next Generation 911” network, police records obtained by the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit reveal new problems reported with the system. Next Generation 911 is the state’s half a billion-dollar upgrade to transform California’s landline-based 911 network into an IP-based system. For years, Cal OES promised Next Generation 911 would help save lives by connecting California’s more than 400 911 centers so they can call all provide back-up in major emergencies. However, the project has been perpetually delayed. Contracts worth tens of millions of public dollars expired last August with the project seemingly far from completion. Originally, the state said every single 911 center across California would be on the new system by 2021. Currently, about 5% of 911 centers across the state are using Cal OES’ Next Generation 911 network, according to the agency.   In December, the state suspended deployment of the new network after NBC Bay Area’s initial reports showing some of its first users experienced significant problems, such as prolonged 911 outages or receiving calls meant for other law enforcement agencies. Newly released police records reveal more problems with Cal OES’ Next Generation 911 system. New records obtained by the Investigative Unit, however, reveal more problems with California Next Generation 911 reported by the Wasco Police Department, one of the latest law enforcement agencies to use the new system. The department was formed last April, in part to address long emergency response times.  Last November, Wasco’s IT manager wrote in an email, “911 calls were not coming through the NGA system” and “callers were receiving busy signals.” NGA is one of the four companies Cal OES contracted with to create Next Generation 911. NGA is responsible for the state’s Central and Los Angeles regions. According to Wasco’s IT manager, the November issue happened more than once and involved AT&T. The manager wrote, “AT&T had once again shut off our 911 trunks, causing a serious disruption in our emergency services.” Wasco Police Department, near Bakersfield. In a statement, an AT&T spokesman said the company was not aware of the November issue, nor does it have any record of any agency reporting a disruption on that date. The spokesman wrote, “We do not arbitrarily ‘turn off’ network lines that support emergency service providers.” Cal OES declined an interview for this report on Wasco PD. Spokesperson Amy Palmer told NBC Bay Area they are “continuing to assess any areas for improvement and committed to discussing them at the upcoming 911 advisory meeting.” In August, Wasco Police Department’s records administrator notified Cal OES of a six-hour 911 outage where the “entire NGA [call handling system] went down.” There was no mention of AT&T. In a statement NGA said, “…we are actively addressing the operational challenges faced by 911 operators during the transition and working to mitigate potential complications or outages while integrating new technology with legacy partners and equipment.” On May 9, a Wasco dispatcher had issues with not being able to receive 911 calls, according to police records. The AT&T spokesman said the company worked quickly to restore communication and the problem was caused by a compatibility problem. He added that all other questions about the performance of the Next Gen 911 system should be directed to Cal OES. “We take our responsibility to support emergency services seriously and remain committed to working collaboratively with Cal OES as it transitions to a Next Gen 911 system,” wrote Jim Kimberly, with AT&T Corporate Communications. “Fortunately, we haven’t had any major tragedies as a result of the [Next Generation 911] system coming online,” Wasco Police Chief Charles Fivecoat told NBC Bay Area. He pointed out that Wasco PD is not “fully Next Gen 911” and rather a hybrid system where its old network operates through the new system. Wasco Police Chief Charles Fivecoat speaks with Investigative Reporter Candice Nguyen When asked if he still wants his department to use Next Gen given the new concerns, Chief Fivecoat said law enforcement agencies don’t have a choice; traditional landline-based systems – also known as legacy systems – will inevitably be obsolete. “At some point in time, copper is going to go away. That’s just what’s going on,” he said. “I remember when 911 first started and we had problems with the legacy system just like we’re having with the Next Gen system now, and many other projects revolving around technology. There’s just a lot of moving parts.” Chief Fivecoat said he recently noticed major improvements in how responsive state contractor have been when new 911 problems pop up.  “Your reporting probably is what’s causing vendors to show up on my door every week,” he said. In a series of investigative reports last November, NBC Bay Area revealed major public safety concerns with Cal OES’ Next Generation 911 project. The Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office, near Yosemite, was the first to get the new system in 2021. Records from their department show that within a year of launching, Tuolumne experience a failure a month, including a 12-hour 911 outage. In the Coachella Valley, Desert Hot Springs police reported issues with transferring calls. New records the Investigative Unit obtained show Cal OES fined NGA a total of $135,000 last July for call routing problems and failing to produce a report explaining the cause of one of Tuolumne’s outages. Cal OES fined NGA las July. During the last State 911 Advisory Board meeting, which involved police chiefs and sheriffs from across the state, Cal OES announced it suspended all new deployment of the Next Gen 911 system until it can figure out the scope of the issues reported by NBC Bay Area. The State 911 Advisory Board also called for a special meeting to figure out if they were misled when Cal OES and its contractors failed to inform them of certain public safety issues – issues that they say they learned about for the first time from NBC Bay Area’s reporting. That meeting was planned for February then pushed up to Thursday, January 16. However, it was recently postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles. Investigative Reporter Candice Nguyen is the reporter on this series of stories. To contact her about Next Gen 911 or if you have another investigative tip, email her at [email protected].