Call for hearing(s) on status and causes of delay in implementing emergency responder Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) System

• Record number: R2025-0020996
• Type: Resolution; category: Committee/Public Hearings
• Status: In Committee
• Sponsor: Gilbert Villegas (36th Ward)
• Committee: Committee on Public Safety
• Submitted Date: Nov 13, 2025
• Introduction Date: Nov 14, 2025
• Official record: Office of the City Clerk

Impact report

Written by AI from the official document. AI can make mistakes; the official document always wins.

This resolution asks two City Council committees to hold a joint hearing on why Chicago's new 9-1-1 emergency dispatch computer system is years behind schedule.

Who it affects

• People who call 9-1-1: The hearing would look at delays in a new system meant to let callers send texts, photos, and videos and to automatically locate cell phone callers.
• Police and Fire Department first responders: The hearing would review a delayed system designed to identify the nearest responders and prioritize incidents by urgency.
• Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC): Its representatives would be asked to appear and give a full update on the project's progress, challenges, spending, and expected finish date.
• Office of Public Safety Administration: Its representatives would also be asked to appear at the joint hearing to give an update on the project.
• City taxpayers: The hearing would review how money from a $79.9 million contract and past budget allocations has been spent on the delayed project.

What changes

• The Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology and the Committee on Public Safety would hold a joint hearing on the dispatch system delay.
• City emergency management and public safety officials would be asked to publicly explain the project's status, problems, spending, and timeline.
• The resolution itself does not change how 9-1-1 calls are handled; the current system, in use since 1995, stays in place.

Money

• $79.9 million contract signed by the City through OEMC in 2020 with TriTech Software Systems, a CentralSquare company, to buy and set up a new dispatch system.
• City budgets for fiscal years 2021 through 2024 set aside funding for the dispatch system replacement; the 2026 budget documents show no clear funding for it.

Where: 36th Ward