A poorly performing computer program at the Knox County E-911 Center is placing law enforcement officers and firefighters in danger by depriving them of updated information on emergency calls, authorities said Wednesday.
The $6.2 million Intergraph Computer Aided Dispatch program went online two years ago and has been problematic ever since. The maintenance contract adds more than $300,000 each year to that cost.
"It was a misdesign from the start," said Tonya Cum, technology coordinator for the E-911 center.
Knoxville Fire Department Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks said the system that is supposed to provide information directly to emergency workers' computers in the field "will grey out." That deprives officers of the most recent information from 911 dispatchers of events at an emergency scene.