Minot Police Department phone outages affecting city’s 9-1-1 system

MINOT, N.D. – The Minot Police Department this afternoon is telling area residents that phone outages at the department are affecting the 9-1-1 system as well as the administrative phone lines.

The biggest concern is for 9-1-1 calls made by cellphone: Right now, the dispatchers can’t hear the caller and the caller can’t hear the dispatchers.

The police advise if you have an emergency and you can call 9-1-1 using a landline, to do so.

If you have no option other than a cellphone, the police say call 9-1-1 anyway: They will have your phone information from the call and try to reach you.

If you need to contact the police department for a non-emergency call, you’re asked to call 701-857-1500 — that line is currently working and will be answered by a dispatcher.

The Minot Police will issue an update when the phone issues are resolved. They are working with both state and local officials to identify and fix the issues.