New York City officials faced intense questioning Wednesday over a July 18 outage of the city’s 911 system that prevented nearly 1,700 emergency calls from reaching a call center in the Bronx. The disruption, caused by a software update performed by vendor Motorola, lasted for more than seven hours and was not publicly disclosed until late that evening, prompting scrutiny from City Council members over the handling of the incident and communication with the public.

Lisa Gelobter, chief of the city’s Office of Information and Technology, which oversees the technology supporting the 911 system, testified before the City Council for over three hours. She explained that a software update triggered the partial system failure, which began at 3:13 a.m. and ended at 10:19 a.m. On that day, nearly 5,500 calls were attempted to emergency services citywide, with approximately 3,800 successfully connecting to operators. About 1,700 calls to the Bronx call center were blocked.

Mr. Gelobter acknowledged that the office did not inform New Yorkers or emergency responders about the outage in real time. She said officials were concerned that alerting the public might discourage people from calling 911. Furthermore, neither the Police Department nor the Fire Department was notified in advance about the software update that affected the system.

The issue was first recognized early that morning when a 911 operator alerted a supervisor that alarm companies could not reach the Bronx center. By 8:30 a.m., emergency response agencies informed city officials of ongoing communication failures with alarm companies. It was only at 9:50 a.m. that the agency realized that 911 callers themselves were unable to connect. Despite this, no public notices were issued during the outage.

City Council members expressed strong criticism. Joann Ariola, representing parts of Queens, condemned the delay in disclosure, warning that lives could have been at risk. “You should be embarrassed,” she said. However, Ms. Gelobter indicated that an internal review had not found any deaths or injuries linked to the outage. The agency is continuing a “root cause analysis” to prevent future failures.

Bronx Council member Oswald Feliz, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, stressed the need for immediate transparency in such situations. “Pretending that they’re not happening, that is just unacceptable,” he said.

Motorola, the vendor responsible for the software update, did not respond to requests for comment and did not send a representative to the hearing, a point noted with concern by several council members.

Council members also raised questions about restoring public trust in the critical emergency system. Ms. Gelobter acknowledged the importance of rebuilding confidence but did not provide detailed plans for next steps. Meanwhile, the city police department confirmed that the 911 operator who first raised the alarm would receive a “commander’s day,” a form of formal recognition and a day off.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, when asked previously about the delayed notification, said the city’s priority was resolving the call system issues rather than issuing immediate public alerts. The episode has renewed calls for improved communication protocols to ensure timely public awareness and accountability in future incidents.