Marilyn Dubil Staff Writer When Morgan Hill residents call 911
on their cell phones in an emergency situation, all calls go
directly to the California Highway Patrol, even if the caller is
nowhere near the highway and not in a vehicle. Until now.
“We want to provide better service to our citizens, in hopes
that they will get to the correct law enforcement agency from the
get go,” said Public Safety Lead Dispatcher Paula Rodriguez, who is
coordinating the installation and start-up of the new system at the
Morgan Hill Police Department. On
e wireless service at a time, the system is being activated.
Verizon Wireless customers were the first group, beginning March 1,
to have the opportunity to reach a law enforcement agency other
than the CHP when dialing 911. However, Rodriguez pointed out, if
you are on Highway 101 and want to reach
the CHP when you dial 911, you likely will. “CHP is still
maintaining control over any cell sectors that touching the
highway,” she said. Although with the previous system, transferring
from the CHP dispatchers to the proper agency didn’t waste much
time, every second is valuable in an emergency
situation. What is even more important for dispatchers racing
against the clock is the ability to provide police officers,
paramedics and firefighters with an exact location of the victim so
that costly seconds or even minutes are not spent hunting for the
victim. A call Rodriguez handled last year
underlined the importance of location. In October, a 19-year-old
woman wandering around near Anderson Dam fell off a cliff, landing
on a small ledge too far down for her to climb back up. Before she
fell, she was not concentrating on which direction she was walking;
when she called MHPD on her cell
phone and was connected with Rodriguez, she could not give her a
location. “If the new system had been in place then, I could have
told them (rescue workers) she was at Woodchopper flats,” Rodriguez
said. “It would have been a definite help if we could have read the
coordinates and given the
m that information.” The woman was rescued, and unharmed except
for some bruises, but timing was certainly a factor, as it was
getting closer to nightfall before she was found. With the new
system, Rodriguez said, they will have an advantage when working
against the clock. The system is quite pr
ecise when it comes to location. According to Rodriguez, the
dispatcher, when receiving a cell phone call from a Verizon
customer now, can look at the system’s computer screen and see an
address and a “24/7” contact number for Verizon, in case more
information about the customer is needed. “
The screen will also display the latitude and longitude of cell
site meters and the percent confidence and uncertainty of the
location,” she said. “Confidence is measured in percentages, the
uncertainty in meters.” Normally, the rate is 100 percent
confidence when the dispatcher is into the c
all by 15 or 20 seconds. The dispatcher can then refresh the
computer screen and see an enhanced 911 screen, phase two of
wireless call, which still displays the cell phone number, still
displays the address of the cell site, but what changes are the
latitude and longitude. In effect, the system is
zeroing in on the location of the caller. “And this is
especially helpful when you have a victim that’s on the move,”
Rodriguez said. “We can continue to receive updated information on
location, and let officers a
nd rescue personnel know that the victim is within a few meters
of a certain location.
” CHP Public Information Officer Terrie Mayes said besides the
burden the new system will remove from CHP officers, the ability to
track down a victim in transit is very valuable. “Look at all the
possibilities that opens up,” she said. “Think of kidnappings,
domestic disputes, carjackings
with victims in the vehicles. If a victim is disoriented and
wandering around, as long as the cell phone connection is
maintained, we can follow them.” Mayes also said, however, that
removing the burden of receiving all cell phone calls was a huge
benefit for CHP dispatchers and officers. “Th
is will truly change our workload,” she said. “It saves the
caller being re routed, and it saves our dispatchers time, giving
them more time to answer our calls.” Rodriguez, who has been
working on getting the system in place since last June, said the
other wireless service providers will be
coming on board. “We met with wireless providers, studied maps
of their cell sites and discussed which cell sites Morgan Hill
would take over directly, along with all other agencies in the
county,” she said. “Providers already started in the Los Angeles
area. We were second in state, the Bay
Area, to start taking these calls. But it is not something that
happens overnight. “It happens one provider at a time, on an
individual basis. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
regulates when they have to be compliant by getting their formats
down so that it can translate into being rea
d by the equipment.” The providers, as they align their format,
will go through a testing procedure one at a time before the
service becomes available. Eventually, Rodriguez said, the system
should be available to all cell customers in the area.
“We want to provide better service to our citizens, in hopes that they will get to the correct law enforcement agency from the get go,” said Public Safety Lead Dispatcher Paula Rodriguez, who is coordinating the installation and start-up of the new system at the Morgan Hill Police Department.
One wireless service at a time, the system is being activated. Verizon Wireless customers were the first group, beginning March 1, to have the opportunity to reach a law enforcement agency other than the CHP when dialing 911.
However, Rodriguez pointed out, if you are on Highway 101 and want to reach the CHP when you dial 911, you likely will.
“CHP is still maintaining control over any cell sectors that touching the highway,” she said.
Although with the previous system, transferring from the CHP dispatchers to the proper agency didn’t waste much time, every second is valuable in an emergency situation.
What is even more important for dispatchers racing against the clock is the ability to provide police officers, paramedics and firefighters with an exact location of the victim so that costly seconds or even minutes are not spent hunting for the victim.
A call Rodriguez handled last year underlined the importance of location. In October, a 19-year-old woman wandering around near Anderson Dam fell off a cliff, landing on a small ledge too far down for her to climb back up. Before she fell, she was not concentrating on which direction she was walking; when she called MHPD on her cell phone and was connected with Rodriguez, she could not give her a location.
“If the new system had been in place then, I could have told them (rescue workers) she was at Woodchopper flats,” Rodriguez said. “It would have been a definite help if we could have read the coordinates and given them that information.”
The woman was rescued, and unharmed except for some bruises, but timing was certainly a factor, as it was getting closer to nightfall before she was found. With the new system, Rodriguez said, they will have an advantage when working against the clock.
The system is quite precise when it comes to location. According to Rodriguez, the dispatcher, when receiving a cell phone call from a Verizon customer now, can look at the system’s computer screen and see an address and a “24/7” contact number for Verizon, in case more information about the customer is needed.
“The screen will also display the latitude and longitude of cell site meters and the percent confidence and uncertainty of the location,” she said. “Confidence is measured in percentages, the uncertainty in meters.”
Normally, the rate is 100 percent confidence when the dispatcher is into the call by 15 or 20 seconds. The dispatcher can then refresh the computer screen and see an enhanced 911 screen, phase two of wireless call, which still displays the cell phone number, still displays the address of the cell site, but what changes are the latitude and longitude. In effect, the system is zeroing in on the location of the caller.
“And this is especially helpful when you have a victim that’s on the move,” Rodriguez said. “We can continue to receive updated information on location, and let officers and rescue personnel know that the victim is within a few meters of a certain location.”
CHP Public Information Officer Terrie Mayes said besides the burden the new system will remove from CHP officers, the ability to track down a victim in transit is very valuable.
“Look at all the possibilities that opens up,” she said. “Think of kidnappings, domestic disputes, carjackings with victims in the vehicles. If a victim is disoriented and wandering around, as long as the cell phone connection is maintained, we can follow them.”
Mayes also said, however, that removing the burden of receiving all cell phone calls was a huge benefit for CHP dispatchers and officers.
“This will truly change our workload,” she said. “It saves the caller being re routed, and it saves our dispatchers time, giving them more time to answer our calls.”
Rodriguez, who has been working on getting the system in place since last June, said the other wireless service providers will be coming on board.
“We met with wireless providers, studied maps of their cell sites and discussed which cell sites Morgan Hill would take over directly, along with all other agencies in the county,” she said. “Providers already started in the Los Angeles area. We were second in state, the Bay Area, to start taking these calls. But it is not something that happens overnight.
“It happens one provider at a time, on an individual basis. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates when they have to be compliant by getting their formats down so that it can translate into being read by the equipment.”
The providers, as they align their format, will go through a testing procedure one at a time before the service becomes available. Eventually, Rodriguez said, the system should be available to all cell customers in the area.
