911 SYSTEM AT A CROSSROADS
I n 1957, the fire services served as the catalyst for a nationwide emergency telephone system in the United States when the International Association of Fire Chiefs advocated for a single, three-digit emergency number to report fires. Ten years later, that vision became reality when the President’s Commission Report agreed with the IAFC in recommend- ing a universal number for reaching both police and fire services in public emergencies. Today, 50 years later, 911 is howmost people access public safety in an emergency. Since the creation of the universal emergency number, 911 has served as the critical bridge between those in need and the fire service. The role that telecommunicators and the 911 system play in providing situational awareness is essential to keeping our firefighters safe, sending the appropriate resources and ensuring we have the best possible information to fulfill our mission of protecting public life and property. But the way the public communicates has radically changed and 911 systems nationwide have not evolved at the same pace. Nearly 80% of American adults now use smartphones and mobile devices to manage nearly every aspect of daily life, including making
companies in the future may no longer be able to support the legacy phone sys- tems upon which many 911 systems are built. To fundamentally change and im- prove emergency communications, the 911 system urgently needs to upgrade to Next Generation 911. NG911 provides many things today’s 911 system cannot. This necessary upgrade adapts 911 call centers to digital tech- nologies and harnesses breakthrough innovations for improved public safety. NG911 provides many things today’s 911 system cannot. 911 emergency calls. Those devices also have the ability to send other critical information about an incident, such as text messages, photos and videos. How- ever, while consumers have rich digital data at their fingertips, 911 telecom- municators are still limited to a largely voice-centric world. The nation’s 911 system is at a cross- roads. After years of supporting outdated technologies for the benefit of the public good, telecommunications
THE BENEFITS WILL BE TRANSFORMATIONAL AS NG911 EVOLVES. IT WILL: Create a core framework that will enable 911 to help fire services use enhanced digital applications such as mapping and more accurate caller location; Facilitate the transfer of digital data from bystanders or sensors at the scene, including audio and video, photos and texts; data frommedical devices, car sensors at crash scenes and building alarms; Improve emergency communication through redundancy and call overload backup; Provide the connection from the public to dispatch, which will augment the information shared by fire, law enforcement and EMS over broadband networks such as FirstNet that are be- ing rolled out across the nation. Although FirstNet and NG911 are sepa- rate efforts, they result in two parts of one whole: our nation’s public safety communications system. Public safety organizations, technology companies and government agencies must coop- erate to ensure that both systems are implemented and work together to dra- matically improve our ability to keep communities and first responders safe. Just as the fire service played a key role in the inception of 911 more than half a century ago, we have an opportunity to encourage national and local leaders to make changes needed to ensure 911 sys- tems meet the expectations of the public and first responders. n
ADAPTING PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS TO MODERN TECHNOLOGIES
77%
Adapting the U.S. emergency communication system to be responsive to smartphones is a pressing safety issue, and migration to an IP- enabled system is essential to meet the public’s expectation of public safety systems. SOURCE: Pew Research Center, November 2016
ROUGHLY THREE-QUARTERS OF AMERICANS NOW OWN A SMARTPHONE
Chief Gary McCarraher Fire Chief, Franklin Fire Department, Franklin, MA Chairman of the IAFC Communications Committee
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