"In addition to Kansas City and Genesee County (Michigan), Ericsson (the maker of the flawed equipment) has provided communications systems to public safety agencies in New Orleans; Albuquerque, N.M.; New York; Los Angeles; San Antonio, Texas; Dade County, Fla.; and Livonia.

It also has supplied systems to 18 U.S. Navy ships, including a number of carriers, and utility companies in Texas, Florida and Missouri.

Its international customers include the Kremlin, province of British Columbia and Mexico City police."

Here's the entire story:

County not alone with 911 woes

Monday, February 21, 2000 By James L. Smith JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Local police and fire chiefs say complaints and lawsuits in Kansas City against the supplier of Genesee County's 911 central dispatch equipment validate their claims that the system is inadequate. But Com-Net Ericsson Critical Radio Systems Inc., formerly Ericsson Inc., and Kansas City officials blame the difficulties encountered with installing a $19-million system in Kansas City on a consultant's specifications - not the company.

Genesee County 911 Consortium officials also said the company is not to blame for difficulties here, instead saying the problems can be traced to vendors who supplied equipment to Ericcson.

911 officials also said Ericcson has worked hard to resolve those problems in Genesee County, and that much of the grumbling from chiefs stems from their bitterness that the consortium did not choose a Motorola system, something most chiefs were familiar with.

Police and fire chiefs have been dissatisfied with Genesee County's 911 system almost since the day it went online, saying first that it took so long to install that the equipment was outdated before they got to use it. They also complain that radio reception is poor and mobile computers malfunction.

Kansas City, Mo., installed its Ericcson $19-million, 800-megahertz radio system in 1992. The system is different from what Genesee County purchased from Ericcson.

In a series of articles in the Kansas City Star, Ericsson was frequently cited as the source of difficulties with the city's new system.

According to the newspaper, two 1998 lawsuits were filed against Ericsson over the system, one by two police officers wounded during the pursuit of a drug suspect and another by four firefighters injured while battling a blaze.

Both are pending in Jackson County Circuit Court in Missouri.

In the suits, the officers and firefighters alleged they were wounded or injured because radios failed at critical times.

"We're vigorously defending these cases," said Bill Clancy, director of Heartland Area, Com-Net Ericsson.

"Audiotape records indicate that the Kansas City communications system worked, as specified, during the incidents involved in the cases. We expect that we will prevail if these cases proceed to trial."

Ericcson officials told the Journal that when Kansas City residents in 1988 voted to upgrade the local emergency communications system, a consultant hired to evaluate the city's needs grossly underestimated system requirements.

So when Ericsson, the low bidder selected in 1992, built the system to the consultant's specifications, problems immediately cropped up because the system was underpowered, city officials said.

A September 1998 report to Kansas City Mayor Emanuel Cleaver II found plenty of people to blame.

"We found no single act or person responsible for all of the problems affecting the city's public safety radio system; however, mistakes were made by the city's radio consultant, radio vendor, and city staff," wrote Jim Glover, chairperson of the Public Safety Radio System Investigating Committee. "The consultant's specifications provided inadequate in-building coverage."

Consultants also erred when they failed to test the system with front-line users, the police officers and firefighters, said Kansas City Auditor Mark Funkhouser.

"We're the gang that couldn't shoot straight," Funkhouser said. "What works for police officers, doesn't work for firefighters."

Yet what the consultants overlooked had been predicted in a Motorola letter sent to city officials after the company failed to win the project, Funkhouser said.

Motorola also was a runner-up bidder in Genesee County, which continues to rankle die-hard Motorola proponents in the county.

As in Kansas City, area chiefs said they were left out or ignored in the initial planning stages of the new Genesee County center.

Area chiefs cite a long and successful relationship with Motorola equipment as the reasons they argued for Motorola over Ericsson when the new dispatcher center was being designed in 1995 and 1996.

But Donald L. Parks, Davison Township Supervisor and head of the 911 consortium, said Motorola came in second in the bidding. And Lloyd Fayling, director of the Genesee County 911 Center, said Motorola systems have also seen failures in other communities.

Notable examples were outlined in articles in the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat in May. Tallahassee officers complained in the articles that the Motorola-supplied computers functioned incorrectly, had screens that were difficult to read and were awkward to use.

A Motorola representative was not available for comment.

Fayling said Genesee County's problems arose not so much with Ericsson, but with the failure of a modem vendor and the tardy work of another.

Ericsson has worked hard to solve problems as they arose at the center, Fayling said.

To correct problems left by the modem maker and the slow performance of a software provider, Ericsson spent $500,000, said company spokeswoman Denise Woernle.

"We found a new vendor that can provide long-term support," Woernle said. "It was not an ideal situation but it was necessary to fulfill the commitment."

The money was in addition to $180,000 in penalty fees paid to the 911 consortium because the system was not up and running on time, Parks said.

In addition to Kansas City and Genesee County, Ericsson has provided communications systems to public safety agencies in New Orleans; Albuquerque, N.M.; New York; Los Angeles; San Antonio, Texas; Dade County, Fla.; and Livonia.

It also has supplied systems to 18 U.S. Navy ships, including a number of carriers, and utility companies in Texas, Florida and Missouri.

Its international customers include the Kremlin, province of British Columbia and Mexico City police.

Link

http://aa.mlive.com/news/index.ssf?/news/stories/20000221fericsside.frm

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 21, 2000