MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Police Department is among the agencies experiencing problems with 911 calls including receiving calls meant for other departments.
Operators are making sure those calls are received by the correct agency.
According to a news release from the MPD, their issue pertains only to calls from cell phones.
The issues started Saturday night and are affecting Shelby, McNairy, Crockett, Hardman, Dyer, Weakley, Benton, Chester, Decatur, Gibson and Hardin counties.
The Memphis Police Department is asking people in Shelby County to call a special number to ensure their call goes through correctly.
The number to call is 901-543-6333 (NEED).
Caller ID will not work on this number, so callers will have to stay on the line.
Raymond Chiozza, the director of Shelby County’s 911 Program, said this is a wireless network glitch, and is out of the county’s control.
Since Saturday, operators are not able to hear cell phone calls, or the cell phone call is lost. Three out of four people who call into the 911 center use cell phones.
AT&T spent Monday trying to get to the root of the problem. No word on what exactly caused the glitch, or when it will be fixed.
“In my 41 years in public safety communications, I have not experienced this,” said Chiozza.
Chiozza told WREG there have been at least two times over the weekend where 911 operators took longer, because of the glitch.
“We have had some incidents where possibly it’s affected,” said Chiozza. “I believe there was an EMS call and a fire.”
Nicholas Adams said the fire at his neighbor’s Shelby County house was put out quickly once firefighters arrived.
He said the fire station is just blocks away, but took crews nine minutes, because the 911 call was rerouted to another county.
“That’s kind of time-wasting, because that short amount of time can mean lives,” he said.
Shelby County’s Fire Department admits it took two minutes longer than it should, because there were problems getting the call.
They said they have a back-up plan in place where there are problems at the 911 center.
WREG asked Memphis Police and Memphis Fire if they too have a plan, but have yet to hear back.
As of Monday night, technicians fixed the problem in Hardin County. Chiozza said it’s a good sign for the rest of the counties.
All local agencies are working with 911 District to ensure that this issue is resolved as quickly as possible.
Here is a list of alternate 911 call numbers.