Emergency Services Telephone Lines Temporarily Down

The Broome County Department of Emergency Services informs us that they are experiencing technological difficulties receiving telephone calls on certain non-emergency 7-digit numbers.

According to the Broome County Department of Emergency Services, "we are currently experiencing technological difficulties receiving telephone calls on certain non-emergency 7-digit numbers. This issue is occurring in the Sheriff’s Office as well as the Office of Emergency Services itself.

Persons calling one of the affected numbers will experience several seconds of silence and limited ringing, followed by a recorded message stating they have reached a ‘non-working number.’

While this is an inopportune circumstance, the calls that matter- emergency calls-are not being interrupted by this unfortunate issue.

“It is essential to note that 9-1-1 and 7-digit emergency calls are not being affected by this problem. They are being received and processed normally,” says County Executive Debbie Preston. “Should an emergency situation arise, you should call these numbers as you normally would.”

While there are several offices whose communications have been interrupted, not all departments are experiencing said troubles.

“We apologize for this unforeseen inconvenience,” says Interim Director of Emergency Services Ray Serowik. “The Broome County Department of Information Technology is working diligently to correct the problem.”

For those who are unsuccessful in directly dialing specific extensions within these departments, you will be able to access them through their respective automated phone ‘trees.’ The number for the Sheriff’s Office is (607) 778-1911 and the number for the Office of Emergency Services is (607) 778-2170.