Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Enhanced 911 cell service lags

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 02:19:33 -0500

Enhanced 911 cell service lags

Monroe and state lumbering toward ability to locate callers

By Joseph Spector
Democrat and Chronicle

(January 13, 2003) — In June, police in Ontario County received a cell
phone call from an injured passenger in a fatal bus accident. The caller,
part of a tour group from Connecticut, had no clue where the bus crashed.

Fortunately, passersby saw the bus flipped off Exit 45 of the Thruway,
called police, and the site was located by emergency crews.

The incident, though, highlights a dire scenario police can face: Despite
the proliferation of cell phones, 911 emergency centers are ill-equipped to
pinpoint the location of callers using such phones.

The problem is exacerbated because although the state has collected
$162 million in fees over the last decade to establish a statewide system
to track cell phone calls, State Police have not dedicated the money
toward that end, according to a March audit by the state comptroller’s
office.

“It’s sinful and it’s shameful,” said Livingston County Sheriff John York,
chairman of the New York State Sheriff’s Association.

And for the 7.2 million cell phone customers in New York, new fees keep
coming. Over the summer, the state increased its monthly wireless
surcharge from 70 cents to $1.20 -- and now counties are getting in on
the act. More than a dozen counties, including Monroe, Ontario, Wayne
and Livingston, are adding a 30-cent monthly fee to help fund local 911
systems, mainly to improve wireless call responses.

Only seven counties in New York -- including Orleans, Livingston and
Genesee counties -- have some technology that can help locate a cell
phone caller, according to the National Emergency Number Association.
And only one, Cattaraugus County, has some ability to directly locate a
person.

Many counties, such as Monroe, are in the process of establishing
Enhanced 911, but the whole program is years behind schedule
nationally. The Federal Communications Commission has mandated that
the program be established by the end of 2005, but that seems like a
lofty goal.

Enhanced 911 is mired in a bureaucratic battle over tax revenue,
disjointed planning among 911 centers, government agencies and cell
phone companies, and technology just starting to meet FCC standards.

“It can be frustrating,” said Murray Henry, director of 911 services in
Ontario County. In June’s bus crash, “if we had this technology in place,
we would have known immediately where (the caller) was.”

The technology

Emergency dispatch centers acknowledge the severity of the problem --
one that is growing. A third of all 911 calls nationally -- 170,000 a day --
are wireless, according to the National Emergency Number Association.

About 75 percent of all land line calls to 911 nationwide can give
dispatchers the name, address and phone number of callers, according to
NENA.

With cell phones, about 43 percent of 911 calls nationwide can be traced
to some degree.

Most counties in the state, including Monroe, are working toward
implementing Phase I of a wireless 911 system. That would give a
dispatcher the caller’s cell phone number and the nearest cell tower --
narrowing the person’s location to a few square blocks in cities or a few
square miles in rural areas.

Phase II would allow dispatchers to pinpoint a cell phone caller’s location
within a few hundred feet, either through global positioning system
technology embedded in the phone or through a triangulation of cell
phone towers.

In New York, Cattaraugus County can pinpoint the location of Nextel
customers who use phones with GPS technology, but those phones are
just being rolled out.

Depending on where a wireless 911 call is made and who the carrier is,
either counties or state police will answer. Nineteen of the 42 state police
dispatch centers take wireless 911 calls; the rest are picked up by
counties, which have lobbied that they are better equipped to handle the
calls.

About 40 counties can take wireless 911 calls at their dispatch centers,
and about half can compute the caller’s cell phone number. Even fewer
can identify the cell tower handling the call.

Monroe County plans to start Phase I with many of its carriers in a few
weeks. All the county can do now is get the cell phone number of a caller.

“It’s really disappointing. We would have liked to have done this a few
years ago,” said John Merklinger, head of Monroe County’s 911 services,
adding that Phase I is “still a lot better than nothing.”

The problems with implementing the systems are complex. First, much of
the technology wasn’t available until a few years ago.

The larger issue is getting cell phone companies, state and federal
agencies, police departments and traditional phone companies to all work
together and develop technology so all cell phone callers can be located
when they dial 911.

According to a report released last fall by an FCC consultant, implementing
the system will require “an unusually high degree of coordination and
cooperation among public and private entities.”

“This is a three-legged stool, and all three legs of the stool need to be of
even lengths,” added Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular
Telecommunications & Internet Association, a Washington, D.C., lobbying
group for cellular phone companies.

The money

Few people have been as frustrated with New York’s inability to establish
a cohesive wireless 911 system as Assemblyman David Koon, D-Perinton.
To Koon, this is a main reason why he got into politics.

In November 1993, his 18-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was kidnapped in a
Pittsford parking lot, driven to an unknown destination, beaten and
raped. At one point, Koon managed to dial 911 on her cell phone, but the
911 operator listened as Jennifer was shot and killed -- unable to find her
location.

The call lasted for 20 minutes.

“So many people have lost their lives even when they have their cell
phones,” said Koon. “The state has to come around.”

Koon has become a national advocate for improved 911 cell phone
service. He and others may have been speaking loudly enough for long
enough that the state has started to listen.

In budget negotiations last year, Gov. George Pataki agreed to make a
$20 million appropriation this fiscal year to counties to bolster Enhanced
911 service and $10 million in subsequent years. Although counties say
the money will cover little of the cost to install and operate an Enhanced
911 system, it is a start, state officials said.

Monroe County expects to bring in up to $300,000 in annual revenue from
its local tax on cell phones. Some local cell phone users said they don’t
mind paying additional taxes if it ensures a quick response by police in an
emergency.

“For your safety, it’s worth it,” said Debbie Deleo, 46, of Chili.

State police and state budget officials say the comptroller’s audit doesn’t
give a clear picture of where the state surcharge revenue was spent.
They said it has been used for law enforcement purposes and that state
law never required it to go specifically for wireless service; furthermore,
the technology wasn’t available until recent years.

In addition, many counties have taken on Enhanced 911 responsibilities
themselves, so calls are routed closer to their origin rather than a state
police barracks.

“The money was not to create an Enhanced 911 system,” said Lt. Col.
Steven Cumoletti, assistant deputy superintendent for the state police.

Koon said the surcharge, started in 1991, has been misleading because it
was created to help fund an Enhanced 911 system.

“It’s been collected under false pretenses,” said Koon, adding that he
hopes to put additional pressure on Pataki this year to use more of the
money for wireless 911 services.

“The governor in this case is no different than the CEO at Enron,” he said.

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