Mayor's office admits it concealed two separate 911 outages from the public

At a City Council hearing, the Mamdani administration was forced to admit it deliberately withheld information about two major 911 system failures. Commissioner Lisa Gelobter said the August 18 outage, lasting roughly two hours, prevented nearly 1,700 people from contacting first responders between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m., and that officials had no plan to inform the public. She also disclosed a smaller May outage of about 110 minutes that stopped roughly a dozen text-based emergency calls.

Councilman Oswald Feliz called the concealment "outrageous" and warned it could have endangered lives, while Councilwoman Joann Ariola demanded earlier public notification and accountability. Gelobter noted the Office of Technology and Innovation only learned of the August failure hours after an NYPD staffer reported it, and that the Office of Emergency Management was not alerted. She promised the administration will compile a list of stakeholders to be notified in future incidents.