The Nebraska Public Service Commission is investigating the 911 response to the nearly 12 hour standoff last Friday.
Police said it took 40 minutes to find the location from the original 911 location.
“Obviously that is problematic, that kind of delay should not be occurring,” said commissioner Crystal Rhoades, “they should have had a much better defined are to be searching then what they had.”
Rhoades said this investigation has nothing to do with the dispatchers or the first responders; they are looking at why the technology failed them.
“Was it the soft wear failed, was it the handset, was it geography, what caused this failure, and how do we remedy it,” she said.
The commission said the goal of the investigation is to prevent the same thing from happening again, and they hope to improve 911 as a result.
“We were given the authority to set up a fund and pay for 911 but we were not given any jurisdiction to actually do any testing or any enforcement of any kind to regularly maintain this network and make sure that it is working as robust as it can be, and that is incredible problematic,” said Rhoades.
Nebraska state senator Jim Smith also wants answers to why the 40 minute delay happened. He issued this statement to KMTV:
"The PSC has responsibility to ensure that wireless carriers and 911 centers adhere to performance standards established by state and federal law, including the degree of accuracy in locating wireless 911 signals." –Senator Jim Smith
“We are very hopeful that he is going to be supportive and really help to give us the authority we need to that we can ensure that 911 always works for everybody,” said Rhoades.
She said the commission wants to be proactive instead of reactive to potential 911 system problems.
“Right now the way they law is structured, and the system is structured, we cannot guarantee it and it is a huge public safety risk and it is a terrible disservice to the people in Nebraska.”
The commission is gathering information from the Douglas County Dispatch and cell phone carriers to pinpoint exactly what went wrong.
Sprint released this statement about their involvement with the investigation:
"This is a tragic event and we offer our condolences to those affected. We are cooperating with authorities and providing any assistance we can in their investigation. Sprint is in compliance with FCC 911 regulations, and has the technology and processes in place to provide authorities with accurate location information in situations like this. Based on our initial review of what happened, it appears the technology and the 911 system in Douglas County operated as it should. However, we are conducting a more thorough and detailed review of the data." -Sprint
