The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office reported a brief phone outage at their dispatch center Thursday.

According to a statement, the 911 call centers for Douglas County Emergency Communications and Kansas University dispatch experienced a disruption in their phone systems for 45 minutes, beginning shortly after 4 p.m.

Emergency plans were initiated, the statement said. Calls were routed through the Shawnee County dispatch center. Douglas County dispatchers were able to observe incoming phone numbers, but unable to answer calls and would then call the number back to confirm the emergency.

The situation has since been fixed and the county communication staff are investigating the source of the problem.