Glitch Causes 'Blank' Phone Alerts During Last Week's Manhunt

, enabled its reverse-911 system, which alerts residents to possible dangerous or criminal activities in their area.

Many residents received a phone recording telling them to lock their doors during the manhunt. However, quite a few Frankfort Patch readers commented on our Facebook page that the reverse-911 messages they received were blank. 

I contacted Steve Figved, chief administrator for the Will County 911 system, to see if he could shed some light on what might have happened.

Figved explained that when a law enforcement agency uses reverse-911, a specific message explaining the situation is recorded and then it's sent out to the proper residents using an automatic dialing system. In last week's case, a computer software glitch caused some residences to be called without the recorded message being played, he said. 

Dispatchers were alerted to the error while the reverse-911 messages were going out and resent the alerts so they would play the recordings, Figved said, adding the dispatch center has no way of tracking how many Frankfort residents received "blank" messages.

"The company (responsible for the reverse-911 computer system) is aware of the problem, and they promised that it will be corrected, so it doesn't happen," he said. "Fourtnately, people notified us of the problem, and we were able to fix it."