For emergency operators in New York City, it was back to basics with paper and pencil when a computer system that relays messages to dispatchers--who then send out police, fire and emergency workers--stopped working last month, the New York Times reports. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the Times that operators had to fill out slips describing an emergency, and then use "runners" to send those notes to the dispatchers, who work on the same floor in the 911 headquarters in Brooklyn.
The newspaper noted that problems continue to occur as the city works to modernize and improve its 911 system, a "$2 billion project meant to upgrade a system that has failed in the past, often when needed most." Article