Note from Al: In a national emergency or in the event of an act of terrorism, I can’t think of many things more important than our 911 emergency system (except for making sure Home Depot has enough duct tape). So I am sending you a few stories today that explain some of the big problems with our system. These issues, almost certainly, exist in your community too.
Mobile E-911 Missing in Half of All Communities
You are paying for it, but you are probably not getting the E-911 coverage on cell phones that you are paying for. The Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International said states have raided state E-911 funds to offset budget shortfalls.
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A group of House and Senate members are trying to jumpstart the rollout of technology that would allow emergency workers nationwide to pinpoint the location of 911 calls made from wireless phones.
The Washington Post Technology Page says: "Wireless companies, public safety officials, and governments are operating under timetables set by the federal government for deploying so-called E-911 location technology, but substantial financial and logistical obstacles have delayed a national rollout.
Technology to allow emergency workers to pinpoint the location of any wireless caller has existed for half a decade and has been widely available for at least the past 18 months.
The Federal Communications Commission six years ago issued a two-step timetable for companies to upgrade their systems to locate 911 calls from wireless phones. "Phase One" technology, with a deadline for national rollout originally set for 1999, was intended to provide emergency workers the general location of the 911 caller, based on the wireless tower closest to the caller.
But being Phase One compliant could mean that police only know where you are within, say, a few miles according to one story I found in the Philadelphia Times Herald.
Phase Two deployment, currently slated to be completed in 2005, would provide emergency workers with far more specific location information, just as any landline phone would.
The National Emergency Number Association says, "Phase One E-911 technology has been rolled out in just 1,360 of the nation's 3,140 emergency jurisdictions, while Phase Two has been completed in only 33 jurisdictions."
All the players responsible for rolling out E-911 -- the wireless companies that must upgrade their services, the regional "Baby Bell" local phone companies that must bolster the capabilities of their networks, and the state governments that must fund upgrades to their 911 call centers -- have stumbled along the path.
Unintentional 911 Calls
The FCC says that up to 70 percent of all 911 calls from cell phones are dialed inadvertently, needlessly occupying emergency operators.
In Minnesota, for example, the Highway Patrol said 40 percent of all 911 calls are unintentional.
I ran across this year-old note sent to the FCC by the National Association of 911 operators about the apparently large problem of unintentional 911 calls, which jam up the system. In December of last year the FCC began pressing cell phone manufacturers and users to do something: "Consumers who possess handsets with the auto-dial 911 feature can assist efforts to eliminate the unintentional call problem by disabling the auto-dial 911 feature or by locking their key pad."
How big a problem is this for your community? Many older wireless phones have a feature for automatically dialing 911, often a single number key -- usually 1 or 9 -- that will make the call if held down for a few seconds. This button often was activated on those phones before they ever reached consumers, who may not have known about the function. The most common problems are with open-faced phones.
In addition, some cell phone owners program 911 as a speed-dial number. When cell phones are jostled, the speed-dial number or automatic 911 key can be pushed inadvertently and the emergency number dialed. Emergency operators are supposed to stay on the line to confirm whether a call is accidental or from someone in distress. An operator may disconnect and call back to verify a call. If no one answers, emergency personnel may be dispatched.
What to do? Don't hang up. If you realize you have accidentally called 911, stay on the line until the dispatcher answers. You won't get in trouble, and you'll save the dispatcher several valuable minutes by simply explaining that you accidentally dialed the wrong number.
Non-Emergency? Call 311
About 20 cities including LA, DC, and Vegas have adopted 311 as a number that people can call for non-emergency calls, especially about city services. Baltimore, for example, reported a dramatic drop in the number of non-emergency calls that flowed into the 911 line.
The FCC became concerned that if we started too many of these "X-1-1" numbers that people would become confused.
What the Dry Cleaner Found
This could be a fun story -- what do dry cleaners find hidden away?
In Atlanta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had a story about a cleaner who found $1200 and returned it:
Over the years, the folks at Elegance Cleaners have found, among other things, candy bars, change, passports, wedding bands and even diamonds in the pockets of their customers' clothes.
They usually drop whatever turns up into an envelope and attach it to the cleaned clothes ready for pickup. But when employee Younja Yancy was checking pockets recently, she touched what felt like money. A wad of money. She withdrew a dozen $100 bills.
By the way, my dry cleaner and I were chatting the other day about the astonishing number of people who drop off clothes and never come pick them up. Eventually, the cleaner donates the clothes to charity.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
