Cloudy, 85°Scattered thunderstorms, Severe thunderstorm watch & tornado watch
Cloudy, 85°
Scattered thunderstorms, Severe thunderstorm watch & tornado watch
1997 Annual Conference
National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
Wednesday, June 18th
by Gary Allen
[links are photos, click in some photos for other pages]
(Baltimore, Md., 10:50 p.m.) -- The highlight of this next-to-last day of the NENA conference was a panel discussion on 311 with attendees from the Baltimore Police Department, and then a tour of their comm center--we have exclusive coverage of both events here on our Web site and in coming months in the printed version of DISPATCH Monthly.
The evening was topped off by a tropical beach party in the ballroom of the convention center. It was definitely a classic NENA party--well attended by members in hula shirts and shorts, plenty of food and music for dancers. The best give-away was the flower-print hats.
Today's seminars focused on wireless 911, number portability, reducing turn-over, disaster communications, GIS for 911 and ADA compliance. The trade show closed at noon, then the NENA executive board held a forum for members to meet and talk with them.The afternoon sessions focused more on technical issues, including the NTIA TR45.2 committee, neuro-linguistics, power quality and grounding and GIS.
The panel discussion participants were Terry Black of the COPS organization, Elizabeth Nightengale of the FCC, Major John Reintzell and Sgt. Nelson Herrman of the Baltimore Police Department, and Toni Dunne, chair of NENA's accessibility committee. They were each given five minutes to give background from their perspective, and then fielded questions from the field.
Black said COPS became involved because they felt that officers were simply chasing 911 calls and not able to take care of their beat. She said the idea developed from police chiefs and sheriffs from across the country, but didn't mention any role AT&T' may have had in its origin. Nightengale emphasized that the FCC's ruling was not mandatory, but the agency felt compelled to reserve the number "because they're so rare."
Major Reintzell said that Baltimore PD had an avalanche of 911 calls and that officers were performing public service rather than public safety duties. He said the city has been losing population each year, yet 911 were increasing by about four percent each year. He said they screened 911 calls extensively, but still couldn't reduce their number. He said a telephone report handled "at best" about 40,000 reports a year.
Reintzell used the term "political reality" at least three times in his answers, apparently referring to the way that 311 concept developed. He said the 311 unit that was formed is really a "sub-system" of the 911 system, and takes up to 1,700 telephone calls each day. He said 1,400 calls were received on the first day, so "there was demand there long before it came online." He said that a 311 officer can write a report in one-sixth the time it would take a patrol officer to handle it. Reintzell said the department has fielded 110 inquiries from other jurisdictions about how to set up their own 311 system.
Sgt. Herrman, a 28-year veteran of the comm center and 35 years at BPD, said from 30 to 40 percent of 311 are resulting in some type of patrol officer response, so 311 doesn't completely eliminate responses. He said that 911 call-takers now have an average of 136 seconds between calls, while previously it had been just 73 seconds.
The 311 unit uses 40 light-duty officers, some of whom have been in that status for 20 years, according to insiders. The current civilian dispatchers had hoped that the 311 unit would have utilized existing employees of the comm center, but the department felt using light-duty officers was most cost effective. They are not taping 311 calls until June 23rd, and are not displaying ANI or ALI information. Herrman said they are awaiting state attorney general approval before installing all three features.
Interestingly, Reintzell said they do not know how much AT&T will charge them for the service if they decide to keep the 311 service after the grant-supported two-year trial. He said they have asked AT&T for cost information and expect to have a full answer.
During the question periods, NENA members zoomed in on the question of financing once the grant runs out ("I'll pay $1 million gladly," Reintzell said) and if the 311 system was fully ADA compliant ("It will be tomorrow," Herrman said.).
Reintzell released some statistics on 311, based on the first six months of taking calls:
Xypoint Inc. presented a seminar that helped to summarize and bring into focus the legislation passed by the states to fund wireless 911 upgrades. According to Xypoint:
Xypoint markets wireless 911 solutions, but also follows the legislative process--but not the political process. Reuven Carlyle of Xypoint said that it's impossible to follow the politics of so many jurisdictions, and said that it's important to differentiate between the spirit and letter of the law. Carlyle said that carriers might be willing to provide some services not covered by the law, to obtain a competitive or political advantage. However, other carriers might insist on following the letter of the law.
Off to Baltimore PD
After the seminar came the tour to see the actual 311 office and the entire BPD comm center. It's located on the 4th floor of the police station and is staffed by uniformed civilians, supervised by civilians, but managed by Herrman and other sergeants. We have an exclusive, inside look!
Once off the elevator, we went through a door and down a hallway. There, on the left, was the window with blinds that was the center of this 311 controversy. There are six desks in a small office off the main comm center, and another two consoles inside the main call-taker area.
Down the hallway is the window into the computer room, and further along are the two large rooms, separated by glass, that house the radio dispatchers and the 911 call-takers. The radio dispatchers use a single, reddish, gas-plasma video display terminal to show four screen of information. The call-takers have minimal equipment, but just handle telephone calls and entering them in CAD.
After Hours
It wasn't advisable to wander too far from your hotel tonight--there was severe thunderstrom watch out and later a tornado alert for all eastern Maryland counties, including Baltimore. It rained hard once, and then sprinkled now and then. Even so, it was a beautiful night--warm and pleasant, and the swirling clouds above were tinged with red at sunset. Locals and tourists boarded the water taxi's, ignoring the distant lightening and thunder.
All photos and text copyright 1997, 911 Dispatch Services, Inc.
