UPDATE: (9/11/22) Due to the ongoing problems with 911 calls being disconnected or dropped, the EBR Parish Communications District has now gone to a backup system.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Communications District 911 center is aware that there may still be ongoing issues with 911 calls in East Baton Rouge Parish.
The Communications District was able to mitigate the dropped calls issue by transferring the primary 911 lines to backup 911 lines.
AT&T is still working to locate and repair the initial cause of the 911 dropped calls issue. AT&T has assured the Communications District that AT&T understands the seriousness of this problem and is using all available resources to correct this issue as soon as possible.
If a dropped call occurs, a caller should immediately call 911 back. Dropped calls will not interrupt emergency responses. If a call is dropped, emergency service agencies will continue any response in progress and the 911 call center will be expecting a callback.
UPDATE: (9/10/22) The problem is back and there are incidents overnight as well. It’s why the East Baton Rouge Parish Communications District has put out a release making the public aware that the 911 center is dealing with dropped calls into the emergency center.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Communications District 911 center is aware that there are ongoing issues with 911 calls in East Baton Rouge Parish.
911 callers may experience a drop or interruption during calls. If a dropped call occurs, a caller should immediately call 911 back.
Dropped calls will not interrupt emergency responses. If a call is dropped, emergency service agencies will continue any response in progress and the 911 call center will be expecting a callback.
AT&T is aware of the issue and is working to replace equipment. AT&T has assured the Communications District that AT&T understands the seriousness of this problem and has mobilized its resources to resolve it quickly.
UPDATE: (9/9/22 7pm) AT&T identified the problem as a card in a switch in their network that had to be replaced. Once that was completed they performed testing and are advising the problem has been resolved. They are continuing to monitor it closely to assure this problem does not reoccur.
ORIGINAL: The 911 center in East Baton Rouge Parish is currently working with its communication partners (AT&T) to eliminate the intermittent dropped calls.
EBR Parish Communications District Director Jim Verlander said in the past four days, they’ve had a total of 10 dropped calls out of the hundreds of calls they receive daily.
“As soon as we identified that this is not just a dropped call from a cell phone, we immediately notified our communication partners,” said Verlander. “We are aware of the problem and we’re tracking it. The problem is not with any of our equipment. This is not an EBR communication district problem. We are working with our communication providers who are working to identify and resolve the issues. It’s been escalated as high as it can go to resolving the issue.”
Verlander said they have not had any cases where callers were unable to get through to 911. The only problem they’re experiencing is calls being dropped or disconnected.
“The last thing we want is people not to call 911. If that were the case, we would warn the public to call a different number. The amount of issues we’ve had are very, very small, but even one is too many.
“If you were to get disconnected, call 911 back immediately. That’s not us hanging up on you. Unfortunately, it’s the problem we’re dealing with at this moment,” said Verlander.
Verlander could not provide a timeframe for when the problem could be resolved, but he said he is hoping it’s fixed today. He added the issue is not limited to only East Baton Rouge Parish, but did not have details on what other jurisdictions were impacted.
What caused the issue remains under investigation.
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