New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says the state’s 911 system is behind in emergency system upgrades.
At present, fewer than half of New York's 62 counties offer basic text-to-911 service, but Suffolk County is not one of them. Suffolk was way ahead of the game implementing its Text to 911 system in 2018 under then Suffolk County Executive Bellone according to the Public Information Office of the Suffolk County Police Department.
Next Generation 911 (NG911) is a long-promised upgrade to New York’s emergency communications system that would allow photos, voice and video calls and text messaging to be rerouted to other county call centers when major events like natural disasters overwhelm local centers.
However, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services (DHSES), which is the primary agency responsible for overseeing the state’s transition to NG911, is years behind schedule on adopting the required transition plans and has fallen short in providing counties with needed guidance on moving forward with implementing statewide interoperable communications, according to an audit released by Dinapoli.
The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services said the responsibility to implement NG911 lies with individual counties and that the state has provided guidance and more than $500 million in funding since 2010.
“The state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services was supposed to have had this plan in place when we started our audit,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “We found that it still wasn’t completed. Interestingly enough, in the course of the audit, they did finalize the plan.”
Moving to Next Generation 911 has complexities beyond just updating equipment. It requires coordination between emergency and public safety officials and multiple state and local government agencies. For counties throughout the state to successfully begin the transition to NG911, a statewide plan and roadmap must be completed and approved.
DHSES had said that the State 911 Plan would be ready by December 2022 but delays, including a three-year suspension of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, have left counties in limbo. The plan was finally released in April 2025, three months after the conclusion of the audit. The audit found that, based on its current status of planning, New York state was still years away from having NG911 implemented.
The success of statewide communication operability is dependent on counties’ readiness for NG911. Twenty-two of the 36 counties (61%) that responded to the auditors survey reported that they had not received any guidance from DHSES on the NG911 transition. The 14 counties that did get some guidance said it did not contain details or specifics and they remained unsure how they were supposed to plan for the upgrade or fund it.
DiNapoli’s audit called on DHSES to finalize the State 911 Plan to include NG911 and monitor counties progress in implementing technologies to meet the goals it sets.