Two recent news articles on the subject of local 911 systems have raised an obvious question: exactly why would anyone spend billions of dollars to build an entirely new electronic network to carry emergency information from the public to PSAPs? According to both of the articles, the goal of a nationwide Next Generation 911 (NG911) network would be to transmit text messages and video to dispatchers—that’s it. For some reason, those are the only two features that comm center managers and tech providers have latched onto, and are promoting to the public when asking for funds to upgrade their systems.
In one news account, a comm center manager stated that witnesses to the Virginia Tech mass murders had taken cellular phone video, and sent it to friends, who sent it on to police. “With Next Generation 9-1-1, they could have been feeding the information directly,” the manager said. (Police have never said that anyone took on-scene video that would have assisted their response.)
Another story suggested that bank robbery alarms could be accompanied by a live video feed from the bank. (The article didn’t explain how private alarm companies would be equipped to link to a NG911 network.) Ironically, text messages and video may be the last two features to be useful to dispatchers on a NG911 network. Instead, at the top of the list will be the expanded ability to transmit and display information about the location (customized by comm center, easily accessible for updates/corrections), and complete flexibility in routing calls both across the U.S. (caller reporting incident in another state), within your county (to handle outages and overloads), and among locations/consoles within your facility or center.
NG911 will also enhance accessibility by those with hearing and sight problems, a critical need. On a higher level, a dedicated 911 network based on IP technology will also provide improved network management, provisioning and maintenance, and finally bring E911 service to the 175 counties in America that don’t have E911 at all. Selling NG911 to the public may not be easy. But using “glamour” features to justify surcharge hikes isn’t the solution. Instead, the age of the nation’s separate 911 systems should be emphasized, and the need to evolve to a linked network structure that will support future capabilities.
Update: An organization representing wireless carriers posted a White Paper on using SMS text messages to transmit emergency information. 4G Americas noted the many technical limitations of SMS that cannot be easily overcome to allow reliable and effective emergency communications with PSAPs. Download (pdf) the paper here.
1 comment… add one
It is ironic that your editorial starts with the premise that touting text messages and video as motivations for investing in technology needed for NG9-1-1 services is a weak justification, but then wraps up with the idea that NG9-1-1 will “finally bring E911 service to the 175 counties in America that don’t have E911 at all.”
Those counties will most likely be the last to implement NG9-1-1, if ever, due to the same factors that have left them without E9-1-1 all these years – the inability to fund the cost and/or lack of adequate telecom infrastructure.
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