Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Washington County's 9-1-1 Call Center Updated

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 24 Aug 2003 04:33:38 -0400

Washington County's 9-1-1 Call Center Updated
Friday, August 22, 2003

The Washington County Sheriff's Office 9-1-1 Call Center is excited to announce
that
two other wireless carriers, Southern Linc and Nextel, have been added to the
9-1-1
Call Center.  While they have been receiving calls from these carriers all along,
now
the Call Center is able to receive the customer's latitude and longitude along
with
their call back number.

The same capability was added by Alltel in June, and with the two additional
providers coming on board August 21st, the process is about 80% complete.  "We
only lack U.S. Cellular and T-Mobile and our county will be completely capable of
receiving the latitude and longitude of all 9-1-1 calls coming in to our call
center,"
said Jerry Brock, E911 Coordinator.

"What is so exciting to me about the two companies that updated us with their new
technology of providing us with the callers latitude and longitude," said Brock,
"is the
fact that these two companies are the only ones in the United States that offer
tracking of a 911 call as it unfolds.  If you are using one of their new G.P.S.
chipset
phones, we are able to track you as you drive down the road, or walk through the
woods if the case may be, by hitting what is called a "Refresh" or "Rebid" screen
display.  As long as we can keep a signal we can track you even out of our county.

All other companies only offer a single update unless you recall 911."

Testing verified that the system worked.  According to Brock, each company made
numerous test calls to the center, and as the calls were received they verified
which
business they were sitting in front of.  They were then asked to move down the
highway and those in the center were able to tell what mailbox or mile marker they

were passing.  "I would say that over 95% of the calls were within 10 to 50 feet
of
where the test caller was calling from," said Brock.

Washington County's 9-1-1 Call Center has had the capability of receiving Phase I
calls (with the wireless customer's call back number) since December 2000.  Brock
points out that this does not mean that every time they receive a wireless 911
call
they receive a call back number, but they have the capability of receiving the
information if it is being transmitted.

http://www.chipleybugle.com/localnews/911update.htm

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