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News Break


02/05/2004 16:21:12 EST



Tracking Emergency Cell Calls Falls Short
By JONATHAN D. SALANT
Associated Press Writer


Half of the emergency 911 centers still will not be able to track
cell calls by next year's deadline for wireless companies to
outfit their phones with locator technology, according to a group
that represents call center administrators.


State and local governments would have to more than double their
annual spending to $1.7 billion to meet the deadline, the National
Emergency Number Association said in a report Thursday. That is an
unlikely prospect given the budget shortfalls facing many local
governments.


"The reality is there's never going to be enough money to all the
things we need to do," said Jeff Arnold, deputy legislative
director for the National Association of Counties. "It is a
priority. It's just a function of having available dollars to make
it happen. The money just isn't there."


When someone calls 911 from a regular home or business phone, the
address automatically is displayed on the screen of one of 6,000
call centers. But a traditional cell phone cannot be tracked.


The government told wireless carriers in 1996 to install
technology that can find callers within 100 yards of their
location.


The companies either must use a global positioning device in 95
percent of their phones by Dec. 31, 2005, or install technology
that automatically locates a caller based on the distance and
direction from the phone to the tower transmitting the call. That
network-based technology must be completely installed within 18
months after local public safety authorities request it.


The wireless companies will meet the deadline, but the call center
association said only 50 percent of the centers will have the
enhanced 911 technology to locate the wireless caller. Currently,
only about 1,100, or 18 percent, of the call centers have the
technology.


"It was shocking to find the level of readiness to be where it
is," said a former association president, John Melcher. "We need
more resources and more action at the state and local level," said
Melcher, deputy director of the Harris County, Texas, 911
Emergency Network.


The association's findings mirror a December report of the General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress. The GAO said
fewer than half of the 50 states reported they will have full
enhanced 911 systems by 2005. Some states were unable to even
estimate when the new systems would be installed.


____


On the Net:


National Emergency Number Association: http://www.nena.org

[nealopp]

Personally, I allmost NEVER dial 911 from my cell. If I need LE, Fire, or Medical response, I call the 7-digit emergency number for the jurisdiction I'm in. Here in CA, my 911 cell calls go to Vallejo (i think) and the calltakers there don't know the area well at all, as opposed to the local call takers that have some sort of an idea.

There's also a much faster response, since the local call takers don't have to transfer any of the information to another department. That's just my little trick, I could be wrong...

[gdowkpc]

Luckily, our call center handles the whole county. If your cell is routed to one county in particular here, they will simply transfer your call to our call center. Good and bad with this. Good is you can actually talk to your own call center. Bad is, you may get lost in the transfer.

Another county actually intakes the call and then calls our dispatch center and relays the information. It's good in the sense that you don't get cut off. But it's bad in the sense that we seem to get a lot of bad or partial information from them.

Officers and dispatchers seem to form a relationship that is unique to their area. Call-takers and dispatchers ask the questions that officers they are dispatching want to know. They know what the officers want to know because the officers ask. Another jurisdiction may not ask, so you lost that melding process.

So when another dispatch center intakes the calls and passes them on, quite often the information is good enough for one of their officers to respond, but quite often we want more or different information.

Pros and cons to each method.

I was up in the hills and came upon an unattended 'controlled' burn that was no longer in control. Being at high elevation, I didn't know which cell tower would pick up my call so I didn't know who my call would be routed to. I simply called the dispatch center directly of the county I was in. That turned out to be a good idea as the area I was in was complex to describe and required a call taker familiar with the area to get fire crews on the way and to the right location.

[Stump]

Officers and dispatchers seem to form a relationship that is unique to their area. Call-takers and dispatchers ask the questions that officers they are dispatching want to know. They know what the officers want to know because the officers ask. Another jurisdiction may not ask, so you lost that melding process.

That is VERY true, Ofcr Dow. Very.


Funny that you should put this article up, G. Last night, we dealt with a cell phone caller that was having a heart attack while driving and had no idea where he was. We were able to trace the cell to an intersection and sent responders out there. Bad part: Dumba$$ man kept driving around, and ended up back at his own house. Good part: My supv'rs were able to get his home address from the cell company and sent responders over there, and they were able to make contact with him.
We have great capability to determine location from the GPS coordinates on the cell, however, if we get disconnected, then we can't continue tracking.