Three years ago, a disgruntled customer slammed their car into a bustling restaurant in a hit-and-run late one Saturday night, injuring two people.<\/p>\n
Horrified neighbors watched the scene unfold and promptly dialed 911.<\/p>\n
Then they waited. And waited \u2014 because no one answered the emergency call.<\/p>\n
Other calls eventually went through. But Jersey City<\/a> police officers did not arrive at Taqueria Downtown<\/a> until 15 minutes after some witnesses reported the crash, delayed by the missed call, according to records later obtained by The Jersey Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n The troubling instance of an emergency operator not answering a resident\u2019s cry for help is not an isolated incident in the Hudson County city. It\u2019s a symptom of a larger problem officials say they\u2019re fixing, they announced March 27.<\/p>\n \u201cFor too long, our 911 center was asked to do a critical job without the leadership, staffing, or technology to do it well,\u201d Mayor James Solomon said in a news release. \u201cWe\u2019re changing that.\u201d<\/p>\n The city will launch a new 911 system on May 14, officials said.<\/p>\n The new system will introduce digital audio and location-based call routing, meaning calls will be routed using the caller\u2019s verified location. Operators can also exchange text messages with callers, including photos and videos of incidents, city officials said.<\/p>\n The text messaging capability will include limited translation services, officials added. <\/p>\n The upgrades are part of a $39.2 million contract that the city council voted on last year, according to city spokesman Nathaniel Styer. (Solomon was a councilman last year, before he was elected mayor in November.)<\/p>\n