FCC Comments on House Resolution

Comments Of The Federal Communications Commission On H. Con. Res. 361, 90th Congress, 1st Session, A House Concurrent Resolution That Would Express The Sense Of Congress That The United States Should Have One Uniform Nationwide Fire Reporting Telephone Number And One Uniform Nationwide Police Reporting Telephone Number.

[from the archives of the LBJ Library, Austin, Tex.]

H.Con.Res. 361 would express the sense of Congress that the United States should have one uniform nationwide fire reporting telephone number and one uniform nationwide police reporting telephone number.

The Commission believes that a uniform national system of simple telephone numbers for emergency calling is a desirable objective and has been engaged in some efforts to achieve this goal. However, there are a number of practical problems that have created difficulties that must be taken into account in any consideration of this subject.

The calling and availability of emergency services, such as fire and police, and the telephone numbering scheme are basically matters of local service subject to the jurisdiction of the states and their regulatory commissions rather than a part of interstate or foreign service subject to federal jurisdiction. Nevertheless, since it appears to require centralized effort and coordination to achieve national uniformity and the Commission has communicated with the telephone industry concerning this subject, the telephone industry has provided the Commission with information concerning difficulties involved.

Most of the suggestions relating to standardized emergency numbers conceive of direct dialling to fire or police departments without operator intercept. The problems involved in establishing such an automatic system result principally from lack of centralized organizations to handle emergency calls in many metropolitan areas and overlap of telephone exchange boundaries into several communities.

The problem is relatively simple in some areas, such as parts of the Washington, D. C. metropolitan area, where the individual telephone exchanges do not cross political boundaries. All of the exchange areas served by wire centers (central offices) in the District of Columbia are confined to the District. Most of the wire centers in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties serve areas only within their respective counties. To a large degree the same situation exists with respect to Arlington County and the portion of Fairfax County located in the Washington Metropolitan Exchange Area. The District and each of the four surrounding counties have their own centralized police and fire dispatching bureaus. Wire centers serving areas wholly confined to one of the above-mentioned political subdivisions can be arranged to accept an abbreviated emergency number and to direct the call to the proper police or fire dispatching center.

However, in many cities, and in suburban areas particularly, telephone exchange boundaries do not correspond to the political boundaries, and a single exchange may serve several communities, each having its own police and fire departments. In such areas, extensive and costly modification of the central office switching gear would be required to arrange the equipment to accept calls for these departments on a single number basis and automatically direct these calls to the agency having jurisdiction, depending upon the location of the telephone from which the emergency call originated. Thus, as an example, there are certain variations between exchange and political boundaries in other sections of the Washington metropolitan area. For example, the areas served by the Marlboro and Bowie wire centers extend into Anne Arundel County. The Riggs Road wire center serves residents of both Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, Certain of the wire centers serving the city of Alexandria, with its separate fire and police departments, also serve portions of Arlington County.

An alternative to the expensive automatic switching equipment would be the establishment of a common answering and dispatching center serving an entire metropolitan area. This type of arrangement could become complicated, however, with a number of political subdivisions involved (such as the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland, and the City of Alexandria and Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Virginia).

Over the years the telephone industry has taken a number of actions to facilitate telephone communication in emergency. Easily remembered numbers (such as 444-1111 for the D.C. police) are assigned where possible. Numbers for emergency services are prominently listed in telephone directories. Emergency calls may be given directly to the telephone operator, who can be reached simply by dialing the digit "O". The Bell System is undertaking to change coin telephones so that the operator can be reached without first putting in a coin and several field tests of this new system are now being conducted.

Several weeks ago the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders communicated with the Commission regarding the possibility of taking steps to increase the usefulness of the telephone to secure assistance in various types of emergencies, including civil disorders. This matter was referred to the Defense Commissioner of the Commission who supervises the Emergency Communications Division. Commissioner Loevinger, the Defense Commissioner, has discussed this matter with the Chairman of the Board, the President, and a Vice President of AT&T, and several possible methods of improving service in this respect have been considered. The officials of AT&T have assured the Commission that they will pursue this matter and will work with the Commission toward the objective of further improving the nationwide telephone system in this respect.

Thus the Commission is now actively engaged in searching for means to achieve the objective of H.Con.Res. 361. If Congress feels that the passage of such a concurrent resolution would be useful in supporting or stimulating these efforts the Commission has no objection to the passage of such a resolution.