ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 13, 1994                   TAG: 9402130049
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Short

911 SYSTEM TURNS INTO DISASTER

City officials are withholding payment to a company that provided the software for a 10-month-old 911 system that has crashed twice and locked up dozens of times.

The breakdowns have forced dispatchers to record emergency calls with pencil and paper and then dispatch all messages by radio, a procedure not used since 1975.

As far as anyone knows, no deaths have resulted from the problems with the $1.3 million system. But many officials and emergency employees say the system is so slow and unreliable that it's just a matter of time before there is a tragedy.

The city originally bought the software from EAI Systems Inc. - Associated Press 


 by CNB