Critical safety systems should always be handled with care and attention.

In this story,  a man installed a police radio-based alarm system that suddenly stopped working.

The system was designed to be secure, monitored, and even capable of contacting 911 directly.

So he immediately flew in to fix it and found out that the real issue turned out to be something surprisingly simple.

Read the full story below to find out more.

IT did it

We make a wireless, police radio-based alarm system with network connection.

There are thousands of them in the field. The system is fully supervised.

It monitors everything. It even has a months-long battery backup.

It is a critical piece of life safety equipment.

It saves lives in basically every courthouse, hospital, and school.

It runs off a “wall wart” that plugs into an AC outlet.

The security system was very secure and completely locked and monitored.

The transformer has a hole at the top for a security screw. This screw is difficult to remove.

So it must be plugged into an outlet at the bottom.

Then it is screwed into the electrical plate center screw hole.

It is basically secure, hardened, locked, and monitored by IT and the police.

It can even push directly to 911 systems. It bypasses operators to reach officers instantly.

This man and his team install the system perfectly.

We always install it. This basically means we bolt it down.

We plug it in. We tighten that one screw. We turn the key.

Then, we teach them how to use it.

He received a call, saying the system was not working.

A few months after one routine install, they called.

They said it had quit working. They asked us to fly in and fix it. It is a $2,500 charge.

So, off I went. It was unplugged. Someone in IT had unscrewed it.

They had plugged something else in. This happened in a locked IT closet.

He quickly fixed it by plugging it back.

It was an easy fix. I unplugged their box.

I moved it to the top plug. I screwed mine into the bottom.

Then the police remembered something. For two months, it had spoken over their radio.

It said that it was on battery power. It said this every hour. They thought it meant it was working.

IT had ignored every email saying the system was on battery power.

If only someone had checked the plug, right?

In reality, most technical issues are not as complicated as they sound.

But in this case, it wasn’t really a technical failure, but a human error. Lol.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this post about a man who wants to report a coworker to HR over unprofessional behavior following a missed promotion.

Let’s read the responses of other people to this story.
This person shares their personal thoughts.

This one makes sense.

Here’s an honest opinion.

I’ve never heard about this device, says this one.

And finally, why not?

Even the smartest systems can’t survive when someone unplugs them.