WAYS NG911 CAN IMPROVE YOUR AGENCY The potential benefits of an NG911 system are significant—from safer law enforcement officers to better service for your community 5
N G911 is the upgrading of telephony-based 911 system to a modern system that allows improved, digital, internet protocol (IP)-based com- munication between citizens, 911 and emergency responders. According to Eddie Reyes, Director of Public Safety Communications in Prince WilliamCounty, Virginia and the IACP Communications & Technol- ogy Committee Chairman, the ben- efits of NG911 for police, sheriffs and highway patrol are tremendous. “The move to NG911 is imperative in order for modern smartphone features—such as the ability to send text messages, photos and videos — to be compatible with current emergency communica- tion systems, and law enforcement must embrace this transition.” Here are some of themajor benefits law enforcement can expect by transitioning to NG911: With NG911, a 911 “call” will take very different forms: 911 call centers or pub- lic safety answering points (PSAPs) will be able to receive, process, share and store text, pictures and videos re- ceived from callers and other intercon- nected services (e.g., alarm compa- nies). Even better, that information can be quickly shared with police, sheriffs 1 technology across the United States from the decades-old IMPROVING OFFICER SAFETY
landlines. In some areas, calls from mobile phones are routed to state police or other PSAPs miles away to determine a caller’s location and the nature of the emergency, and then transferred once or twice before responders are dispatched. With NG911, the technology will es- sentially enable the 911 call to “find the appropriate PSAP,” rather than the PSAP being required to “find the caller,” as currently in place. And PSAPs will be able to zero in on a caller’s location— especially wireless callers—faster and more accurately so law enforcement can quickly find them. Barbara Neal, Executive Director of the Vermont Enhanced 911 Board, explains howNG911-based technology will enable improved location informa- tion in that state. “Vermont is working with our current system provider to integrate location data that is provided by the caller’s cell phone, which should improve both the speed and accuracy of wireless location information as com- pared to the location being provided by cell towers,” says Neal. Texas 911 officials are starting to experience the same results. “Once we start implementing NG911 statewide, we will have more accurate loca- tion information,” explains Melinda Crockom, Public Education Coordina- tor for the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications. “There are some Councils of Governments in
and other responders, giving them more precise information to make their job safer and more efficient. NG911 will most significantly improve law officer safety through increased situ- ational awareness. It creates a digital infrastructure to receive and trans- mit a variety of rich information. For example, in a bank robbery scenario, access to live video from cameras can provide valuable information about the number and location of suspects, type of weapons involved, possible injuries and the number of victims. In any type of hostage situation, information about the inside of an active crime scene is key for officer, as well as hostage, safety. Digital feeds from security cam- eras and building sensors will provide helpful details. Information that can be used by incident command is also crucial for officer safety during active violent incidents. NG911 will allow PSAPs to share intelligence from other responders— provided via FirstNet—about a danger- ous situation (See page 2 to learn how NG911 and FirstNet will work togeth- er). As the emergency communications hub, 911 PSAPs can share and con- tribute digital information to improve situational awareness for responders in the field.
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ENHANCING LOCATION ACCURACY
More than 80 percent of all 911 calls are made from cell phones instead of
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