Harvey's Non-Emergency Police And Fire Lines Disconnected For 3 Days Over Unpaid Phone Bill
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The last thing you want to hear when you call for help is a dead tone, but that's what happened recently in south suburban Harvey, because the city hadn't paid its phone bill.
For three days last month, when Harvey residents tried to call the non-emergency numbers for the police and fire departments, they got a dead phone line.
It turned out the city had more than $14,000 in unpaid charges for one of their phone providers, Access One.
Access One disconnected about 15 city phone lines after getting no response to their final notice about the unpaid phone bill.
Fortunately, the city's emergency 911 services were not affected, and police said they weren't aware of any serious issues that were not addressed because of the phone problem.