Voters to determine if 9-1-1 goes wireless
by Janice Francis-Smith
The Journal Record
12/12/2005


OKLAHOMA CITY - What's great about mobile phones is you can make a call from just about anywhere. The worst part about calling 9-1-1 from a mobile phone is that you could be calling from just about anywhere - and the dispatcher has no way of knowing where to send help.

Tomorrow, voters in Oklahoma County, Tulsa County and 21 other counties across the state will decide if they want to spend 50 cents per month to build a 9-1-1 system that can identify the location of a caller using a mobile phone.

"It saves significant time in medical emergencies, and as a result of that saves lives and trauma for people," said Zach Taylor, executive director of the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments. ACOG is urging voters to vote yes on Dec. 13, just as they did to establish the landline 9-1-1 service in the 1980s.

"Oftentimes not necessarily noted by people is that it (landline 9-1-1) is a very strong database-driven system," said Taylor. "You dial 9-1-1, regardless of where you live, and that call goes to the right place. When the call is answered we know who you are, what your street address is, your community name, and in a lot of cases what's real important is who provides police, fire and EMS (emergency medical service) at that address.

"Well, wireless phones have come around and we have problems," said Taylor. "The system wasn't designed for it."

Wireless calls are picked up and transferred along antennas, and may wind up answered by a 9-1-1 dispatcher who is nowhere near the caller's location. The dispatcher is often able to determine little more than the caller's cell phone company.

"When the call is answered, we have no information like you would with wireline," said Taylor. "Ninety-five percent of the people that call us do not know where they are … or they're in a crisis situation and cannot articulate their location, so it takes us three times longer to get that call dispatched. Those delays don't do anybody any good, and it's unnecessary."

ACOG officials have heard all the horror stories. The small child who fell into the lake and needed medical treatment, but her family could not describe the exact location of their camp. The injured woman who spent 45 minutes in a wrecked car at the bottom of a ravine while her young son tried to flag down a driver to tell him and the 9-1-1 dispatcher where they were. The woman never identified who called 9-1-1 screaming but never gave the dispatcher any information that could be used to help her.

Since 1994, the number of calls that have come in to 9-1-1 call centers has shot up drastically, so that now half of the 9-1-1 calls received in central Oklahoma are made using mobile phones - nearly 340,000 calls last year.

"Tulsa's police officers and dispatchers - and other emergency and public safety personnel - routinely face situations in which the enhanced 9-1-1 services would make a big difference in allowing us to make a timely and effective response," said Keith Fallis, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93, which represents more than 600 Tulsa police officers.

The proliferation of mobile phone usage has had a negative effect on the 9-1-1 system in more than one way, said Taylor. A charge on landline phone service has funded the build-out and operation of the 9-1-1 system currently in use. But more and more mobile phone users are abandoning their landline phone - and cutting off revenue stream for the 9-1-1 system. Market analysts estimate that only 50 percent of the landline phone accounts active in 2002 will still be in existence five years from now, Taylor added.

Considering that landline 9-1-1 service costs about 63 cents per month for telephone users, the 50-cent charge is a pretty good deal, said Taylor. In some states, the charge for wireless 9-1-1 can be as much as $3 per month, and 31 states have rates that exceed 50 cents a month.

The pace at which Oklahomans are increasing their use of mobile phones dictates that now is the time to set up a fund that will make wireless 9-1-1 service more effective, said Taylor. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring wireless carriers to make "Phase II" technology, that is, a system that can identify the latitude and longitude of the caller, available to communities willing to pay for it by Dec. 31. Earlier this year, the Oklahoma Legislature provided the structure for local municipalities to create a funding mechanism to build such a system. That structure is the vote on the 50-cent charge scheduled for Dec. 13.

If the measure passes, the new system could be up and running in about 12 to 18 months. If not, we don't get the technology that could save lives, said Taylor. The equation is so simple, ACOG is worried about voter apathy.

"Some people say it's a no-brainer, everyone would want this," said Taylor. "Well, we have to get them to go vote."

On the other hand, some worry about the cost of government, and have objected to the proposed fee.

Richard Prawdzienski, former Libertarian Party state chairman who ran for the state House of Representatives in 2004, said the government should use current funds to pay for the enhanced service rather than asking for more money.

Voters in Mayes, McIntosh, Stephens, Tillman, Atoka and Jackson counties have turned down the tax in recent years. After failing in 2002, the tax passed in Pawnee County in 2004. It also passed in Washita and Payne counties.

"We know 338,000 people were exposed to a less than great system last year," said Taylor. "That number's going to grow. That is way too many."

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