A California state senator is calling for answers regarding the state’s new Next Generation 911 network following a series of reports from NBC Bay Area exposing major safety concerns and significant delays with the system’s rollout.  Questions have already been mounting for the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), as law enforcement agencies using the system report technical difficulties and the state’s 911 Advisory Board attempts to determine if it was misled by the agency about the scope of the problems. Each of the state’s 911 centers, more than 400 in all, were projected by Cal OES to be up and running on the new network by 2021. But more than three years later, the system has only reached about 5% of those dispatch centers, and further deployment is currently on hold as the state and its vendors attempt to iron out persistent bugs.  “Having spent nearly half a billion dollars on the transition, Cal OES has only transitioned a handful of localities to Next Gen 911, and as I understand it, is currently in the process of reassessing the project,” wrote Republican State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil in a January letter to Cal OES. “I am concerned about the most recent deployment delay, as it is layered on top of a series of delays that have pushed the project well beyond its original timeline.” Investigative Unit Nov 21, 2024 CA suspends Next Gen 911 rollout, state advisors demand answers on safety issues Investigative Unit Nov 19, 2024 State advisor ‘blindsided' by Next Gen 911 safety concerns in NBC Bay Area reports In the letter, Alvarado-Gil asked about the potential public safety risks of continuing to operate the state’s antiquated legacy system as Next Gen 911 remains on hold, and when the rollout could be expected to resume. She also questioned how the state was moving forward with vendors building the new network since those contracts have already expired.  “My call for action through the letter is really to let the Office of Emergency Services know that we are watching,” Alvarado-Gil said. The senator represents a large swath of California, including Tuolumne County, home of the first dispatch center to go live with the Next Gen 911 system. As NBC Bay Area reported in November, the transition did not go smoothly, with the 911 center reporting outages and misrouted calls from places as far away as New York. Records from other agencies using the system showed similar problems in places like Wasco or Desert Hot Springs. Despite those issues, public safety officials across the state agree it’s imperative to get the Next Gen 911 system back on track, as it promises improvements to emergency response, and the state’s aging legacy network becomes more prone to failures.  Cal OES did not respond to NBC Bay Area’s request for comment on Alvarado-Gil’s letter. The letter was directed to the agency’s director Nancy Ward who has not responded to our news organizations inquiries. The department recently said, however, that it now has “an opportunity to reassess and reset” the project and that it was taking steps to remedy any issues with contractor performance.  The agency was supposed to address questions about safety issues and delays at a January 16 Advisory Board meeting, but it was put on hold due to the LA fires. A new date has not been scheduled. Alvarado-Gil said she has not yet received a response to her letter from Cal OES. She said she is disappointed but it’s not surprising given the fires and is hopeful the agency will respond.