City seeks $1.2 million refund after security breach involving 911 software vendor
By Brett Rains
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FORT SMITH, Arkansas (KHBS, KHOG) — The City of Fort Smith is seeking a $1.2 million refund from the software provider used for emergency dispatch services over claims that a security breach violated state and federal rules for accessing criminal information systems.
Fort Smith Director of Public Safety Communications Wes Milam told 40/29 News the breach happened when the software vendor allowed a technician from India to access the Arkansas Crime Information Center and the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services system. Milam said the access violated the rules and had to be addressed immediately.
“A violation of this nature could threaten the ability of Fort Smith police to be able to utilize the ACIC link for running license plates, driver’s license,” Milam said. “So this was a serious incident that had to be addressed immediately.”
Milam described the Pro Phoenix platform as the central system that was planned to be used by public safety agencies across Sebastian County. The software supports computer-aided dispatch, mobile data, records and jail management and is used by dispatchers, police, fire and EMS.
The city and county have spent about $1.2 million since 2023 to implement the system. Now, they’re asking for a refund, saying the company violated its obligations by allowing a non-U.S.-based technician to access protected systems.
“The amount of work to select this vendor placed an enormous amount of trust in them to uphold the security principles that every software vendor having access to this material has,” Milam said. “By their breach, that has put the City of Fort Smith Public Safety in a very precarious position that we had to address immediately.”
According to Milam, plans are to move to a similar platform provided by CentralSquare at a comparable cost.
“However, these negotiations take some time and police, fire, EMS and dispatch, we don’t have time to wait,” Milam said.
The issue surfaced just days before the deadline for the consolidated 911 call center to be fully online and in service for Fort Smith and all of Sebastian County.
State law required 911 consolidation by 2025 in an effort to reduce dropped calls and limit transfers between agencies. For Fort Smith and Sebastian County, that deadline was extended to June 6, 2026.
Milam said the city would meet the deadline, but ambulance calls would still need to be transferred because plans to build a new dispatch center were cut.
“There should be no hiccup, there should be no change in service,” Milam said. “If you call in Fort Smith, you’re going to get Fort Smith response. If you call from Sebastian County, you’ll get a Sebastian County response. The citizens will see no change.”
Backup plans are in place in case problems come up during the transition to the new software. According to Milam, there’s currently no timeline for when ambulance dispatch services would be consolidated into one location, because that would require more space, a new building, additional staff and more training.
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