Backup 911 System Approved

After a series of problems earlier this year with the city’s independent 911 emergency telephone service, the Hermosa Beach City Council has approved a backup system that will reroute calls in case of a system failure.

The system, approved unanimously at Tuesday’s council meeting, will be shared with the city of Palos Verdes Estates, which also has an independent 911 emergency system.

In the reciprocal arrangement, if a caller is unable to get through to the 911 system in one city, the call will be rerouted to dispatchers in the other city and then relayed by radio to appropriate officials, said Steve Wisniewski, director of public safety.

Concerns about the 911 system in Hermosa Beach arose shortly after the city withdrew from the South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority last December and installed its own emergency response system. The city’s system failed three times in January, for several hours on each occasion, when equipment malfunctioned or there were switching problems in distant telephone facilities.

The backup system, one of several changes recommended in a consultant’s study released in June, will cost each city a one-time installation fee of $208.60 and a monthly service fee of $62.50, Wisniewski said.