DC's Office of Unified Communications recorded a second technical issue in less than a month

WASHINGTON — The Washington DC's Emergency Dispatch Center, or Office of United Communications, experienced a technical system disruption on Friday that affected the team's communications for around 20 minutes.

Contacted by WUSA9, the UOC stated that on August 9 at around 5:15 p.m., the district's computer-aided dispatch, also known as CAD, reported a 'connectivity disruption' which mobilized public safety agencies to immediately respond by switching to manual dispatch. 

The UOC also communicated that the issue lasted less than 30 minutes, and while the Office of the Chief Technology Officer and the Office of Unified Communications analyzed the matter and responded promptly, this would be the second communications problem the entity has reported in less than 10 days.

Last weekend, on August 2, the OUC experienced a discrepancy in their response to a report of a baby with cardiac failure in the Northwestern part of the city. The five-month-old sadly died, and the OUC clarified that a contractor applied a software update that "was not done in compliance with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer protocol," which resulted in a disturbance that limited the agencies' access to the CAD System. 

WUSA9 learned the mentioned contractor is no longer employed by the District government. 

The OUC elucidated that when they transition to manual dispatch, they can still receive and process 911 calls.