While Mayor Daley has spent most of the last several months huffing and puffing about the Olympics, Al Sanchez, and conflicts with the police, the City has quietly been building a back-up 911 center at O'Hare meant to be used if a terrorist attack or natural disaster renders the current West Loop 911 center useless. more ›

It seems that upgrades integrating police cameras with the city's 911 system are causing glitches that call takers say make some lower priority calls disappear from the screen. One 911 call taker told the Sun-Times, "They simply vanish and no record can be recalled or found." Jennifer Martinez, a spokeswoman for the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, defended the system and said it was a matter of the display: "It's a minor issue with stacked calls. It's not that they disappear. It's just the display. If there's three jobs, you may only see one. But, they remain on the system, and dispatchers are still sending those jobs out. We haven't lost any of the records. The record remains in the system." Another upgrade that's been delayed is mapping railroad crossings on screen so call takers can assist emergency vehicles in case rerouting is needed. Martinez said that the mapping upgrade is only available at a few stations and is still being rolled out. [Sun-Times] more ›