Full Notification

Date: December 20, 2013
PORTSMOUTH POLICE EXPERIENCING TELEPHONE SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS
Earlier today the Portsmouth Police Department’s Emergency Operations Center began experiencing technical problems with their 911-telephone system. Verizon was notified and began working on fixing the problem. s a result all 911 calls were routed to cellular telephones to allow dispatchers to receive emergency calls and prevent a disruption of service to our citizens.
Moments ago it was also determined that the police non-emergency lines were also malfunctioning. Verizon has located the problem-causing malfunction with the lines and are working diligently to have the service restored as quickly as possible. As a result of the malfunction the Portsmouth Police Department is requesting that all citizens dial 9-1-1 to request emergency and non-emergency assistance from the Police and Fire departments at this time.
It is unclear exactly how long service will be interrupted. Verizon crews are working as quickly as possible to restore the telephone service to our Communications Center. However, we anticipate that the problem will not be resolved until Saturday December 21, 2013, at the earliest.