Oakland unveils new renovated 911 center

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- After several high-profile problems with police radios and the emergency phone system in the past few years, the city of Oakland has improved its 911 system, which is supposed to be faster and more reliable.

Officials said Oakland is still one of the cities in California that can't accept 911 calls from cellphones because they don't have the staff to handle the increase number of calls that cellphones will create. So they will have the extra delay of going through CHP.

Officials were proud to announce that they now have ergonomic correct work stations for dispatchers. They also have a giant wall of screens now that show the ShotSpotter system, so they can all look up and see what's going on. Before, they had to walk over to the one laptop to see the scene. So, this is now much easier to see and they can communicate what they see to the officers who are out there on the streets. These new renovations are the first since 1998

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan said this was a long time coming. "The 911 center here, our communication center has been were one of the things we wanted to work on. We have not improved the technology here for nearly a decade. And all of us who own simple equipment like cellphones, to different recording devices for a TV set can imagine the change taken place," she said.

The new center has 10 new job openings for dispatchers.

The mayor said the project cost an estimated $750,000 and said the project was on budget and completed on time.