Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, visited Alexandria last week to see one of only a few Enhanced 911 systems in the country at work.
Enhanced 911 technology allows communicications staff at the city’s Public Safety Answer Point or PSAP to locate cellular telephone callers who are in need of assistance. Phase Two of the program, which was implemented here only three weeks ago, uses a combination of private and public technology to triangulate a call for assistance and locate the caller’s position on a map. Once the position is located, that information can be relayed to police officers on the street or to fire and rescue personnel.
“What we saw today in this department and in this center is really at the leading edge of a new technology that will drive the rest of the country,” Powell said. “This process involves an extraordinary amount of technology and has an extraordinary number of variables. There has to be a partnership between industry, the carriers, law enforcement and local government. It is local government that provides a large amount of the funding and we are pushing hard for implementation throughout the country but it is extraordinarily complex.”
One demonstration failed because software routed the call to Arlington instead of Alexandria. “We work closely with Arlington and Fairfax County all of the time because our jurisdictions are so close to each other,” said Deputy Chief David P. Baker of the Alexandria Police Department. “So, it is important to note that the call did get answered and would have been transferred to the right PSAP.”
Neither Arlington nor Fairfax has implemented Phase Two of the enhanced 911 technology so Alexandria is able to trace a moving caller to a point until the call is transferred. “Both Arlington and Fairfax are close so it shouldn’t be very long until they can pick up the movement of a caller on their systems,” Baker said.
CARRIERS USE different technology to locate their cellular phones. Some use network-based software while others use geopositioning satellites. “I certainly would ask if a carrier had E911 capability before I purchased a cellular phone,” Powell said.
E911 capability has become more and more important as the use of cellular phones has increased. “We ran a test over the past couple of days and we are averaging about 200 911 calls a day,” said Robert Mains, the Computer Aided Dispatch manager for the Police Department. “Of those calls, about half were made from cellular phones. We get cellular calls from people who have been involved in motor vehicle accidents or who want to report something that is happening while they are driving. This technology is very important in helping us to respond to these types of emergencies as rapidly as possible.”
THE PROCESS OF upgrading the city’s PSAP began two years ago. The project was funded by the city. “While this technology is important, it was part of a total upgrade of our call center,” Baker said. “As technology changes, we upgrade equipment, not because it doesn’t work anymore but because it gives us more ability to respond to emergencies.”