OHIO--Seneca's 911 System Fails Periodically

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Seneca's 911 system fails periodically

March 16, 2000

TIFFIN - Seneca County's 911 emergency telephone system has been shutting itself off without apparent cause, prompting concern at the sheriff's office over the system's reliability.

Sheriff H. Weldin Neff said the 911 system, which was installed more than a year ago, has logged itself off without notice on numerous occasions since it was installed. So far, neither GTE, which provided the communications system, nor Ameritech, which installed the telephone circuits, has determined a cause, the sheriff said.

The 911 system covers the entire county with the exception of the city of Fostoria, which is linked to Wood County's emergency call system. The sheriff's office and the Tiffin police department share the 911 system, with the respective dispatchers handling calls that originate in their jurisdictions. If a circuit overloads, the city's calls are routed automatically to the county's 911 dispatchers. The reverse setup occurs if the county's lines become overloaded or inoperable.

The sheriff and other officials will meet todaywith representatives from GTE and Ameritech to work toward resolving the problem, he said.

Deputy Ron Craig, the county's communications coordinator, said the mysterious logging off occurs infrequently. "It used to happen much more often than it does now," he said.

The source of the problem has not been found, though the telephone companies have responded quickly to calls for assistance, Deputy Craig said. "It's probably, pardon the pun, a communications problem with all of them and until now they haven't understood the seriousness of the problem," he said.

Sheriff Neff said there's no indication an emergency call was missed because of the problem. "It's happened from time to time," he said. "But we've always been able to get it back on line right away."

The 911 mainframe computer is in the Tiffin police department, with individual terminals at both agencies.

Tiffin police Chief Tom Steyer was skeptical about the sheriff office's claim of equipment problems. "This is the first time I've ever heard about this," the chief said.

"Our equipment is working just fine," added Dave Hartzell, who handles 911 operations for the city.

"Well, I guess they're lucky," said Sheriff Neff, adding that the problem may be isolated to his department.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 16, 2000


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