Dunwoody still having issues with 911 system

DUNWOODY, Ga. — The city of Dunwoody is still experiencing problems with its updated 911 system.

City officials told Channel 2's Dave Huddleston the system is working great for police calls, and even cut the wait time in half.

City manager Warren Hutmacher said it has created a new problem though.

"We've added one minute and 30 seconds to the wait time for firefighters and EMT service," Hutmacher said.

The reason? Dunwoody doesn't have its own fire and EMT service, so they have to rely on DeKalb County.

Their 911 operators have to transfer the calls to DeKalb County, adding the unexpected time.

They have been working to fix the problem for 11 months now, and so far it's cost taxpayers $640,000.

Hutmacher said they have new computer software that will help their 911 operators connect with DeKalb County operators almost instantaneously, but there have been some problems.

"We are still testing the system to make sure the two computer programs can talk to each other without losing calls, and that is taking a little time. We don't want to say the system will be up and running on a certain date, because it's more important to get it right, " Hutmacher said

City officials said in 2010 police call response time took 4:33 to dispatch. But in 2012 with their new ChatComm 911 Service response time is now 2:14 to dispatch.

WSBTV