OEMC Collapses?
We're just hearing about this today via an e-mail:
- Hey SCC, this past Thursday around midnight, the techno-weenies took down the entire PCAD system purportedly for maintenance. It was supposed to be for 5 hours or so, but who'd know because it's midnights, right? Well, days rolled around and they couldn't get the system up for another seven hours or so around noon. And the whole time, they ran the entire system on note cards and shoeboxes. Shoeboxes! How much did they spend on this monstrosity? $300 million dollars to start and how many more millions for "maintenance??"
Not only that, but they are putting in some new video screens on the back wall and a huge steel part of the frame came crashing down the other day and almost killed the girls working Zone 8. After the screen goes up, the idiots running this place are going to spend weeks rotating they entire dispatching floor to face the back wall. All this while they bolt new non compatible computers to an already half ass system.
Anyone else know about this? We were off for most of this debacle - was it obvious that Dispatch was back to the old card system? It's amusing as hell that just about the only thing they took with them from 11th and State was the old card boxes. We guess someone was truly thinking ahead in this case.
Labels: 911
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
40 Comments:
As long as the vibrating chairs work, that's all they need.
At least it didn't crash down on the buffet.
Imagine a real emergency.
People goin home, cars breaking down, no heavy weapons and a leadership that is promoted because of who they know! yet they know nothing!
We are probably the #1 target in the country due to state, county, and city ineptitude! Total failure of leadership!
You reap what you sow!
Yep, it's all on the legit kid.....
"The new system will never go down- or be compromised".
various bosses in the 90's
Yeah right.............
God Bless the CPD......
Retired in 2003........6 years this month........
Worked at the firehouse on Friday. We had a problem with the alarm terminal and the city sent out a lineman. While he was working on it he mentioned that the entire system went down for 4 hours on Thursday. The problem??????
Someone hacked into the system and took the entire CFD offline. Now you say yours went down? He mentioned the the city said it was a technical problem and they didn't want to let the media know because of the bad press and possible panic.
Well wouldn't it be nice to have the city fall apart when ol'uncle Richie is out of town?
our dispatch is a fucking joke! Not the dispatchers themselves, but the system! If 9/11 ever happens here, KATIE BAR THE DOOR!!! Ill stick around for the OT but my god will it be a chinese fucking fire drill! Screens falling down, computers that dont work, punch card systems, GPS that only seems to work when a dick head sergeant needs to jam someone up, the list goes on and on! This place is a fucking joke!!! If shit hits the fan, may I suggest using one of the up to date suburb departments as a staging area!!! CPD = joke
whatever day it was really windy. everything was down. on top of that we could hardly understand the dispatchers. it was awful.
On zone 2 this has been happening on midnights for the past week or so. I don't know about any of the other zones.
Get Luberman back their so he can lubercate all da equipment again!!!!!!
How much is Ron Huberman getting in royalty fees for CPD using the I-Clear system?
2nd Watch Friday nothing was working. Excuse me, the radios worked. That's all. couldn't run a name or a simple license plate. We were back in the stone age. It was worse than in the 60's pr 70's because then we had the hot desk and a phone call could get a name run or license check. Not Friday, no provisions for doing it any other way.
No jobs dispatched on this "state of the art" system. No computers at all, no ability to find out of someone was wanted or if a car was stolen. As they said on the Zone, "totally manual mode."
For hours and hours.
I can't blame Jody, this was not installed on his watch. But I can blame Richard M. Daley.
Remember when they built the 911 center, it was going to be a marvel of modern technology? How many expensive new operating systems has PCAD been through since then?
Remember the construction manager on the 911 center? Retired Commander Bill Corbett. There were many delays and huge cost over runs. So much so that Bill Corbett was replaced.
And Corbett's punishment for presiding over such cost over runs and delays? For his punishment he was made construction manager of the new Police Headquarters at 35th and Michigan. You know, the Police HQ with the cost over runs and huge delays and off level floors and out of plumb walls. That was some punishment.
And what was Corbett's connections that kept getting him these choice jobs well into retirement on a Commander's pension?
Oh I dunno.
However, Mayor Daley's wife, Maggie has a maiden name of Maggie Corbett. Hmmm, Maggie Corbett. William Corbett. Nah, no connection there, probably just a coincidence. Common name in Chicago. Lot's of coincidences happen here like that all the time.
The "shoeboxes" were not brought over from 11th and State. When dispatchers first moved to Madison/Loomis there was no real provision for dispatching after the computers went down. There were cards all over the place. Someone eventually made up boxes covered with wall heater vents to slide the cards in. It's a terrible system but it was better than nothing. I doubt if that has changed since I left there 11 years ago.
Zone 6 (007 & 008) has been crashing everynight for 3 weeks. Thursday the system was down from 1am until shift ended at 0800. Don't know about after that. No plates, names, nada. "Sir, are you wanted?" "NO office." "OK"
this is the state of Illinois. virtually every public contract is awarded via the bidding process, and the high bidder wins. the contractors bid how much and who they are going to pay off.
most of the computer systems in the state are in not a whole lot better shape. many of the 911 systems have very serious problems that are just ignored because of the cost to fix them.
on zone 10 no pcad, hot desk, leads, event #'s for three straight days. they had no idea how long we were on jobs, if they even knew what job we were on. fuckin great.
True or not, I can't verify, but I trust the copper. He told me that in the late '80s his brother (who I know WAS a bigwig with the City) was approached to install a new 911 center, update our radios, and install computers in the cars, capable of doing reports on. As he had the backround and was actually proficient in this, he took it on. It didn't last long. Motorola was to be the primary supplier of equipment. Two things stopped and 2. He was told to use "so-and-so's" brother/cousin/relative and to use "so-and-so's" company/supplier/equipment. Needless to say, it wasn't going to work. So this copper's brother quit the project. It was then handed off to another guy (not Corbett) but I can't remember who. In the early '90s (92?) the old 18th District desk had the old Motorola 5 line orange screen car computer mounted to the desk to do case reports on. It didn't work. The City then built the 911 center. At this time Corbett was the commander of Motor Maintenance. Corbett only came into play when they couldn't get the mismatched systems they bought to work with each other. They just assumed if you bought counsel A and plugged it into server B it would work. It didn't. They bought the cheapest, low-bid equipment and it wasn't compatable with the other equipment. Bill Corbett was then brought in to make it all work. Somehow he did make it work. At the time he was brought in, 911 center was way over budget and none of the computers/equipment were functioning properly. A year (or 3) after 911 center was up and running the Fire Department was forced into there because the City was embarassed that they had this new dispatch center for them too and year old call-box ticker tape telegraph system out of the old alarm offices. It didn't matter that the 911 center still couldn't get their automated dispatch system to work. They were forced to use it.
INMATES RUNNING THE ASYLUM SAYS:
Inmates are running the Asylum...
Anonymous said...
Imagine a real emergency.
People goin home, cars breaking down, no heavy weapons and a leadership that is promoted because of who they know! yet they know nothing!
We are probably the #1 target in the country due to state, county, and city ineptitude! Total failure of leadership!
You reap what you sow!
3/08/2009 12:09:00 AM
You forgot one,
"Fuck it, I'm done, I retire, RIGHT NOW, BYE"
Boy are the Feds CLUELESS to what really goes on in this City. Or ARE they?
"...However, Mayor Daley's wife, Maggie has a maiden name of Maggie Corbett. Hmmm, Maggie Corbett. William Corbett. Nah, no connection there, probably just a coincidence. Common name in Chicago. Lot's of coincidences happen here like that all the time.
3/08/2009 06:47:00 AM
________________________
I noticed that... strange that a city that is under several federal investigations for corruption has that many coinincidences tying politicians to corrupt family members... just weird!
But, as Daley says, "I don't know nuttin".
Olympics here we come.
I'm not sure which was worse when the system went down, the coppers who continued to ask the zone to "put it on my box squad" after being told over a dozen times the PDT's were NOT going to work OR the dispatchers who would repeatedly ask for your status even after having been told once or twice....hmmm, mark it on the card I'm clear and file the card!!
Give me a break on this one. Everyone should know that nothing screws up a system more reliably than a computer system upgrade. It is always promised to go well and make vast improvements and it almost always causes major foulups and glitches for months at least. Doesn't matter if it is a multi-million $$ system or a $100k system in a suburb. Hell, doesn't matter if it is a $400 desktop in your living room.
It was down all night thursday on third watch......
if you don't have redundancy built into your emergency system and a plan for "unplugged" operation then you are just a little boy in a mans world.
Anonymous said...
At least it didn't crash down on the buffet.
3/08/2009 12:08:00 AM
That's not the buffet, it's lamorte's work station. Ask WM Dimwitz.
This city is like the American auto industry. The pay the most for the worst parts/stuff and then it breaks and they have to pay more to fix the junk. But in Chicago's case I think it's more that they pay the connected who supplies the city with junk in return for favors. More waste!
Hey maybe we could get those paper cups with a string attached for "emergencies only", daley could give out another contract then we would have a nice safe back up system in place! The best part they are "green" and could be disposed of after use!
All we need is one steel balled reporter to expose the reality that the city is litterally crumbling around us,but because of Daley's spin doctors/local media who is in the Mayors pocket (or crotch,depending on your point of view) the spin doctor's point and say "PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE RECONSTRUCTION GOING ON AROUND YOU,WE ARE CREATING A NEW REALITY FOR YOU","AND YOU WILL LIKE IT"
I'm sure the GPS was working fine.
Remember the construction manager on the 911 center? Retired Commander Bill Corbett. There were many delays and huge cost over runs. So much so that Bill Corbett was replaced.
...............
What does a former police commander know about construction? Especially large public buildings (not the little dormer you got on your house.)
I know we have a former commander who now runs the city transportation dept. and knows everything about building roads and filling in potholes.
This is crazy, no wonder the city is broke.
When is O'hare going to collapse? That overhang has run into the millions because of faulty architectural and building errors.
But hey, let's have an olympics.
like the zone 8 girls need anymore stress
The best is the Media and going along with all this clout nonsense involving public safety. If Shit ever hits the fan , I pray that it involves the media. Then they can holler all they want about the OEMC and whatever other public safety function they ( media ) thought was on the legit.
Remember the construction manager on the 911 center? Retired Commander Bill Corbett. There were many delays and huge cost over runs. So much so that Bill Corbett was replaced.
...............
What does a former police commander know about construction? Especially large public buildings (not the little dormer you got on your house.)
I know we have a former commander who now runs the city transportation dept. and knows everything about building roads and filling in potholes.
This is crazy, no wonder the city is broke.
3/08/2009 09:41:00 PM
Little Tommy has no education or previous experience that qualifies him for his current position, however, Corbett is a civil engineer via his education and state licensing. He was such before ever coming on the job.
Even though their might be a family connection, City Hall-5th floor is pretty much bullet-proof on choosing Corbett for managing the 911 Center and the CPD HQ construction projects as Corbett has the appropriate background. This one is a dead-end, however Little Tommy is another story.
i wonder if they pulled a permit for all this new eletrical work!
So much for a redundant system. I bet there were some redundant payments to the contractors though.
I want to know why during Hubermans adminstration, when they rebuilt the COC (10 million dollar pod room), that there were crates with HABITAT FOR HUMANITY stamped all over them, filled with roll around filing cabinets!!
Who's contract was that?? Isn't Habitat for Humanity suppose to be a tax decuctable charitable organization? The inspector general was made aware of this but no response.
The Inspector General also knows about the $2.25M payment to Motorola for "radios" and OEMC never received anything and no reponse there either. They would rather catch a guy who took an hour too long on his lunch.
speaking of Corbett--I believe his daughter is on the job..where are you?
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