Reverse 9-1-1 Test Experiences 'Unfortunate Glitch'

If this had been an actual emergency, you still would have been notified, but maybe not before bedtime.

The Dakota Communications Center (DCC) tested their mass telephone notification system Tuesday night. Sometimes referred to as “reverse 9-1-1,” the mass telephone notification system is designed to notify geographic-specific residents and businesses of critical emergency situations involving public safety. While Tuesday’s county-wide test was deemed an overall success, many Dakota County residents were irritated at the timing.

A few Eagan Patch readers morning proclaiming the test calls came in late. One commenter said the call woke her up. After checking with the DCC, it’s apparent that they weren’t alone.

DCC Director of Operations Cheryl Pritzlaff told Eagan Patch they had “an unfortunate glitch” with the vendor contracted to provide services for the system.

“We’ve received a fair amount of calls and emails about the late hour of some of the calls,” said Pritzlaff.

The test was scheduled to run between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. according to Pritzlaff, but many Dakota County residents received automated phone calls until around 10:30 p.m.

Pritzlaff said approximately 231,000 phone call attempts were made between 6 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

“I’m happy that it reached that many people,” said Pritzlaff. “As far as past the time limit, I’m not happy at all with that. We knew it would upset some residents.”

Number estimates of how many phone calls went past the allotted time were not available but it’s clear by the number of complaints that many Dakota County residents received the late calls. Pritzlaff said they were told by the vendor that the test could feasibly be completed in 90 minutes.

“It went way beyond that,” said Pritzlaff who herself received a test call past the planned 9 p.m. cutoff.

To make matters worse, the vendor, a California-based company named Everbridge, pre-empted a planned recorded message from the DCC notifying residents of the test along with instructions on how to register with the system, with a recorded message of their own. That message apparently stated the call was for an emergency and directed residents to dial ‘1’. The approved ‘test’ message from the DCC could then be heard.

“They (Everbridge) should not have had a pre-recorded message on their system,” said Pritzlaff. “I think that startled a lot of people. We were not apprised of some stuff on their end.”

This isn’t the first time a lack of communication from the DCC’s notification system vendor has caused a problem.

According to DCC records, on July 19, 2010, the DCC attempted to activate the notification system to evacuate a trailer park in Inver Grove Heights due to a gas leak but was unable to do so because the vendor, CodeRED, was in the middle of a Geo file update and had failed to notify the DCC of system downtime.

The Inver Grove Heights Fire Department was able to evacuate residents by going door-to-door before the system came back online.

The DCC entered into a $53,000 annual contract with CodeRED in September of 2009. The July, 2010 incident prompted a close look at the system and backup contingency plans to be put in place in the event of any future “glitches” with the system.

Everbridge just recently entered the picture with an attractive bid of bundling mass telephone notification services and paging services to the DCC for $44,900 annually. The DCC contracted Everbridge in June but also retained CodeRED for an additional year on June 2, 2011 as a redundant mass telephone notification system provider to prevent downtime during the transition and also to “better evaluate the mass telephone notification system offered by Everbridge and make a determination on its ability to replace the CodeRed system.”

CodeRED lowered their annual contract price to $37,500 costing a one-year total of $82,400 for both services as well as paging services.

At the time, the DCC said it was their goal to ultimately consolidate those services under a single provider.

While CodeRED may have had their own “glitch,” DCC officials acknowledge in their records that CodeRED had by and large “served them well.”

Pritzlaff said that the DCC had requested a full report from Everbridge and was “working with their staff to train them and see why we were not apprised of some stuff.”

Pritzlaff said a county-wide notification such as Tuesday’s test would rarely come into play. The system is primarily used on a smaller scale to alert targeted areas that may be threatened from a variety of causes. Past activations have included gas leaks, dangerous criminal activity and even a lost Alzheimer’s patient.

Landlines are included in the DCC notification database. You can also visit their website to register your cell phones or other electronic mobile devices to receive emergency alerts.