Davidson County’s way of handling 911 emergency calls will soon change with the implementation of a system that will allow for improved Next Generation 911 digital technology.
On Tuesday, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners heard an update on ESInet, a system that will allow 911 centers across the state and country to connect through an internet-based routing service. Robert Wilson, the county’s 911 director, said it will allow centers to communicate with each other seamlessly.
The system will lead to improved geolocation of cell phone calls and allow 911 telecommunicators to handle text messages, pictures and video.
The statewide system will be implemented in Davidson County sometime in the late spring or early summer of 2020.
Gerry Means, network engineer with the N.C. Department of Information and Technology, presented the information to the board.
Means said there are currently 19 call centers live on the network in the state and that number is expected to reach 40 by the end of 2019. The state wants to have all 127 call centers in North Carolina on the network by 2021. The state is incurring the cost for the implementation of the network.
“This is a great equalizer,” Means said. “Rural counties get the same service that the metro counties get. It’s the same network. It’s the same service. Same capabilities. Same response time. For the citizens, it doesn’t matter where you are. We’re going to be able to deliver a consistent 911 service regardless of location.”
With the new system, when someone makes a 911 call, a central database with all the latitude and longitudes in the state will allow any GIS software to plot the person’s location based on coordinates that will be generated at the time of the call.
Means said it takes about 10 to 15 seconds once a 911 call starts for a telecommunicator to understand the nature of the emergency. With the new system, that will be decreased significantly because all the time spent trying to find the location will be already complete.
In addition, Means said if someone is being kidnapped in the trunk of a car, that person can text where she or he is going and send pictures to show surroundings. If the person is moving, his or her location will be updated in real time.
“Cell phones don’t have an address. Most of our 911 services have been based on an address,” Means said. “But if you’re not at an address, sometimes it becomes more difficult to know where you are and we lose a lot of time asking and trying to determine where you are on a 911 call so we can know what services to dispatch to you. Where this takes us is the ability of knowing where the caller is as soon as we receive the call. So immediately we have an address. I don’t care if you’re on main street or the middle of a river, we will know where we are eventually within about 9 feet of your actual physical location.”
Means also noted that data across all counties will be transformed into a consistent format so that if someone who dials 911 in one county drives across the county line, the 911 center will know it and the system will have the ability to automatically transfer the call to another 911 center.
Wilson said that one of the bigger concerns moving forward with the technology will be telecommunicators receiving video of things they only hear on the phone, such as people doing harm to themselves or hurting other people.
Although he wants to be cautious, Wilson said North Carolina is a leader in this technology and that it will benefit emergency services in the county.
Means indicated the same thoughts during his presentation.
“We think these things combined will drastically improve our ability to provide more succinct and accurate services to our citizens,” Means said.
Warm Regards
Derrick Barcombe
Paramedic
International SOS
Sent from my iPad
On Tuesday, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners heard an update on ESInet, a system that will allow 911 centers across the state and country to connect through an internet-based routing service. Robert Wilson, the county’s 911 director, said it will allow centers to communicate with each other seamlessly.
The system will lead to improved geolocation of cell phone calls and allow 911 telecommunicators to handle text messages, pictures and video.
The statewide system will be implemented in Davidson County sometime in the late spring or early summer of 2020.
Gerry Means, network engineer with the N.C. Department of Information and Technology, presented the information to the board.
Means said there are currently 19 call centers live on the network in the state and that number is expected to reach 40 by the end of 2019. The state wants to have all 127 call centers in North Carolina on the network by 2021. The state is incurring the cost for the implementation of the network.
“This is a great equalizer,” Means said. “Rural counties get the same service that the metro counties get. It’s the same network. It’s the same service. Same capabilities. Same response time. For the citizens, it doesn’t matter where you are. We’re going to be able to deliver a consistent 911 service regardless of location.”
With the new system, when someone makes a 911 call, a central database with all the latitude and longitudes in the state will allow any GIS software to plot the person’s location based on coordinates that will be generated at the time of the call.
Means said it takes about 10 to 15 seconds once a 911 call starts for a telecommunicator to understand the nature of the emergency. With the new system, that will be decreased significantly because all the time spent trying to find the location will be already complete.
In addition, Means said if someone is being kidnapped in the trunk of a car, that person can text where she or he is going and send pictures to show surroundings. If the person is moving, his or her location will be updated in real time.
“Cell phones don’t have an address. Most of our 911 services have been based on an address,” Means said. “But if you’re not at an address, sometimes it becomes more difficult to know where you are and we lose a lot of time asking and trying to determine where you are on a 911 call so we can know what services to dispatch to you. Where this takes us is the ability of knowing where the caller is as soon as we receive the call. So immediately we have an address. I don’t care if you’re on main street or the middle of a river, we will know where we are eventually within about 9 feet of your actual physical location.”
Means also noted that data across all counties will be transformed into a consistent format so that if someone who dials 911 in one county drives across the county line, the 911 center will know it and the system will have the ability to automatically transfer the call to another 911 center.
Wilson said that one of the bigger concerns moving forward with the technology will be telecommunicators receiving video of things they only hear on the phone, such as people doing harm to themselves or hurting other people.
Although he wants to be cautious, Wilson said North Carolina is a leader in this technology and that it will benefit emergency services in the county.
Means indicated the same thoughts during his presentation.
“We think these things combined will drastically improve our ability to provide more succinct and accurate services to our citizens,” Means said.
Warm Regards
Derrick Barcombe
Paramedic
International SOS
Sent from my iPad
