Santa Rosa, CA police taking Verizon 911 cell calls

[ILUVSOCAL]

"For the first time, a cell phone company is connecting 911 calls directly to Santa Rosa’s emergency dispatch center.

Verizon is the first wireless company with the technology to avoid routing 911 calls to a CHP center in Vallejo where many callers get busy signals or placed on hold.

Other carriers are working on the same technology, which Santa Rosa police hope will reduce response times while enhancing their ability to locate emergencies.

Verizon customers who phone 911 while driving on Highway 101 or 12 will still be routed through the CHP. But in all other areas of Santa Rosa, calls will go directly to police.

Santa Rosa police received 267,000 emergency calls for service in 2003. Of those, 40,000 were placed to 911. The department doesn’t keep statistics on how many calls are made using cell phones.

Those numbers pale in comparison with the CHP’s Vallejo call center, which received 1.5 million cellular calls in 2003, causing delays of several seconds to several minutes, CHP spokesman Wayne Ziese said.

Several other Bay Area cities already have started routing calls to local dispatchers, including San Francisco and San Jose. Sebastopol also went on-line with Verizon customers this week.


Derek J. Moore
dmoore@pressdemocrat.com"

By the way, the CHP dispatch in Vallejo referred to in this article not only handles 911 calls for Sonoma County, but also Napa, Mendocino, Lake and Humboldt Counties, a HUGE distance, stretching 200 mostly rural miles, and full of remote, isolated areas. Those minutes can be the difference between life and death, especially up here, winter makes it worse with heavy rain and snows. Santa Rosa by the way is appx.70 miles south of me here in Redwood Valley.

[ILUVSOCAL]

Another article from today's paper-

"Faster response for 911 cell calls

Verizon first to avoid CHP phone bottleneck
May 29, 2004


By DEREK J. MOORE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT






For the first time, a cell phone company is connecting 911 calls directly to emergency dispatch centers in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol.


Verizon is the first wireless company with the technology to avoid routing local 911 calls to a CHP center in Vallejo where many callers get busy signals or placed on hold.


Other carriers are working on the same technology, which Santa Rosa police hope will reduce response times while enhancing their ability to locate emergencies.


In one high-profile case in 1998, a driver who accidentally struck and killed an Elsie Allen High School student on Bellevue Road was put on hold after he used his cell phone to call 911.


Many can relate to that frustration.


"You could experience delays from a few seconds to 20 minutes," said Kathy Warr, supervisor of the Santa Rosa Police Department's dispatch center. "As Bay Area agencies implement the technology, I would expect that to decrease."


She said the new system works by using cell sectors, the area covered by each antenna. The cell tower distinguishes between the sectors and routes calls accordingly.


For instance, Verizon customers who phone 911 while driving on Highway 101 or 12 still will be routed through the CHP. But in all other areas of Santa Rosa, calls will go directly to local police.


At least, that's the hope.


Warr said officials tested the new system Thursday, when it was implemented, and it worked fine. But the real test will come when people call en masse.


Santa Rosa police received 267,000 emergency calls for service in 2003. Of those, 40,000 were placed to 911. The department doesn't keep statistics on how many calls are made using cell phones.


Those numbers pale in comparison with the CHP's Vallejo call center, which received 1.5 million cellular calls in 2003, causing delays of several seconds to several minutes, CHP spokesman Wayne Ziese said.


Several other Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, already have started routing calls to local dispatchers.


The Federal Communications Commission requires cellular phone service providers to install technology that allows calls to be routed by cell sector, which gives 911 dispatchers access to the caller's phone number and the location of the cell tower.


The rules also mandate technology that identifies a caller's latitude and longitude, allowing dispatchers to pinpoint where the call was made.


"Let's say someone is kidnapped and trapped in their car," Warr said. "We can keep polling that location to see where it is now."


She said Santa Rosa police gained the capability to meet the FCC requirements in a recent upgrade of the department's phone and computer-aided dispatch systems.


Warr said the new system won't require additional dispatchers in the short term."

[ILUVSOCAL]

I notice no responses or replies to this but by me, maybe this isn't big news in other areas of the country, but up here, it's HUGE news.

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by ILUVSOCAL maybe this isn't big news in other areas of the country,

I think that's it. For me, sitting at my computer in Ohio, I couldn't care less.

Still, I do understand why it's a big deal in Santa Rosa and surrounding communities.

[josepho]

I don't mean to jack the thread, but I just want to congratulate AnthroMatt on the proper usage of "I couldn't care less", rather than the normal "I could care less" which I so often see North Americans say... A phrase which, if you think about it, means the total opposite from you actually want to convey.

Again, sorry for thread jacking, but it was a nice little surprise for me.

[ILUVSOCAL]

No, I meant the technology being used to pinpoint 911 callers to the local PD instead of a major, distant dispatch center might not be big news in other areas of the country as they probably already have it, I was not talking about the area being big news or not. Next time, when something important happens in flat as a pancake Ohio I will be sure and go out of my way to point out how it's not important to me and I couldn't care less

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by ILUVSOCAL Next time, when something important happens in flat as a pancake Ohio I will be sure and go out of my way to point out how it's not important to me and I couldn't care less

Go right ahead...I wouldn't expect you to care about something in Ohio that has no bearing on your life whatsoever.

[LowTech]

Originally Posted by ILUVSOCAL No, I meant the technology being used to pinpoint 911 callers to the local PD instead of a major, distant dispatch center might not be big news in other areas of the country as they probably already have it, I was not talking about the area being big news or not. Next time, when something important happens in flat as a pancake Ohio I will be sure and go out of my way to point out how it's not important to me and I couldn't care less

Yah, I guess im one of those who dont see what the big deal is. Since in the dallas area...its been like that for quite a while. But rather than it being a big deal that you finally have this technology, I'd think that it would be a big deal that its taking so long.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by josepho I don't mean to jack the thread, but I just want to congratulate AnthroMatt on the proper usage of "I couldn't care less", rather than the normal "I could care less" which I so often see North Americans say... A phrase which, if you think about it, means the total opposite from you actually want to convey. Again, sorry for thread jacking, but it was a nice little surprise for me.

Hey, you know what else us North Americans say...

[Santa Rosa]

So this is only in Santa Rosa, California?