Law enforcement in Deschutes County are still struggling with a new county 911 radio system so faulty it could put lives in danger. Taxpayers in Deschutes County paid $4 million for a police radio system from Harris Corp. plagued by dropped signals, garbles and wildly varying volume levels.

The Deschutes County Commission’s deadline for Harris to fix the problem is imminent — Feb. 28. It’s not clear what the county’s next steps will be. It is scheduled to discuss the issue on Wednesday. But law enforcement and the public deserve some straight answers from Harris about the problem and what Harris will do to fix it.

Natalie Ciao, communications manager for Harris, sent us the following statement: “Harris is committed to providing a state-of-the-art communication system for Oregon’s public safety communications users and will continue to work in partnership with the city and county. Every customer and system is unique, therefore challenges and solutions are different. A Harris team has been onsite in Deschutes County since early January and we will continue to dedicate the resources necessary to address issues and optimize the system’s performance.”

That is somewhat reassuring. But it’s also interesting for what it doesn’t say. There are many unanswered questions.

For instance, we asked Ciao why Harris signed off on the formal transfer of the system to the county in September and accepted final payment, despite the fact that the system had known problems. That’s a question for Deschutes County, as well, because it also signed the document. Why would Harris accept payment for a system it knew was not complete? Why would the county agree to that?

We also asked Ciao to define the problem(s) with the system and what will solve it. Ciao didn’t say. Of course, that could simply be because it is a complicated problem that Harris hasn’t figured out.

We thought it would be appropriate for Harris CEO William Brown to personally explain to Deschutes County taxpayers and law enforcement why they paid for a system that has failed to work properly. We didn’t get that, either.

The problems with the system may not all be the fault of Harris. Steven Reinke, the director of 911, has admitted he should have recognized the problems sooner and taken more action. The county may have not have had adequate expertise to evaluate what Harris was doing.

But when police need to use their radios, they need a reliable system. Harris owes the public a better explanation, a better working system and maybe a $4 million refund.