Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Farley on May 28, 2009 at 8:00pm

The five PSAP's are all networked together already. The non PSAP dispatching centers would have to have the 911 software and that would be a very expensive undertaking. There might me others means to do it, but I am not sure what they would be.

Permalink Reply by Max L on May 28, 2009 at 11:28pm

If 911 worked as it was suppose to it would be something like this. I think doing it this way some that dont understand our system will.

Caller. Dials 911...........

911 answers. 911 what is your emergency. (or do you need police fire ambulance.)
at this time when someone calls from a land based line non internet phone ie vonage embark com cast and so on. The callers name comes up on the screen. As well address phone number and list of agency's that respond to this address. As well as mapping to the callers home.

Caller. My garage is on fire.

911. Hold i will transfer you to the fire department.
At this time the psap's should push the transfer button to the fire department that services this address. As the system is to work when the call is transferred all the information on the screen is sent threw via fax to the fire department its self. The call goes to their dispatch.

Any Fire Department. Would answer as to their protocol.

That is the short and sweet of it.

Permalink Reply by Willie Brantingham on May 28, 2009 at 11:48pm

Another catch that was put forth at the 911meeting. The CAD program with the mapping is still not working and the PSAPS supposidely are not sending out faxes with the info. Several reasons as to why the agencies are not getting any faxes; not all fax lines are installed, if they are, not all fax machines are connected and operating, and there are still fax machines to be picked up. Another reason, each PSAP has 2 work stations that are supposed to be identical in operating features. Some of the PSAP's still are not set up the same, some only have one work station that is 100% operational some don't have the CAD capability. So even if the mapping did work some of the work stations couldn't send out maps if they had to. This really makes alot of sense if for some reason the number 1 work station goes down, the number 2 work station might be worthless to a point. So would they have to transfer the call to another PSAP?

Permalink Reply by Max L on May 29, 2009 at 12:26am

Go figure yet another failure with the 911 system. By the time they fix it or attempt to fix it we could have on answering center. There shouldn't be any fax machines to be picked up. They should have been installed months ago. However there are probably more left than installed. I remember a few county meetings ago when it came up that we had to call 911 and tell them what our fax number was WTF is wrong with that. The system is paying for the faxes the lines that they are on and they don't have a clue. To many politicians in the mix from the world go.

Permalink Reply by BALLPEIN on May 29, 2009 at 4:56am

I think that would be a very good idea.

Permalink Reply by R Griffin on May 29, 2009 at 5:11am

I had to call 911 when my car caught fire going to work. I didn't know what street I was even on because the sign was gone. I gave him a business name and the last intersection that I passed and before I even hung up the fire siren was blowing.... If you tried that here, who knows what station would get it.. This was in Beaver County P.A. BE SAFE!!!

Permalink Reply by Tom Farley on May 29, 2009 at 7:10am

Max, although I agree whole heartedly that we should have one PSAP instead of the 5, we will never see that. The primary reason given for choosing the current set-up was a financial one. By using picking 5 existing dispatch centers, all the 911 committee had to provide was some initial remodeling and equipment. There was no personnel costs involved with using current centers since those municipalities will be paying those.

If we would have consolidated all the dispatch centers into one, then you would have had to build a new building, which means maintenance costs and upkeep, plus utilities. You would have had to hire dispatchers and choose a wage scale, some dispatchers would have probably been let go. Some dispatchers were union, so you would have had to deal with those issues.

Once ever thing is 100% on wired and wireless 911, the only annual expenses will be support and maintenance contracts, and the occasional computer and radio upgrades. There are no personnel or utility expenses with our current system. So it was a cost decision... plus the police chiefs didn't want to lose power.

I am sure that if they would have put their heads together, they could have overcome these obstacles had they really wanted to. As far as trying to do it know, it would be too big of a cost, but it is worth fighting for. The biggest problem is that very few people see the need or the benefits of working towards a regional system to same money and provide a better service to the county. People believe they would be giving up power and control and their title.

Just a funny side note about our police chief: When 911 was getting off the ground; I suggested to him that the way to go was one PSAP. He said he liked having a dispatcher on station. His argument was what if someone has an emergency and comes to the PD (which happens more than you would think), there will be no one there to help them. I said, just put a phone on the wall with a big sign that said, if you have an emergency pick up the phone. The phone could ring right to the central PSAP and they could get the help to the person immediately. This is the mentality we are dealing with.

Permalink Reply by Max L on May 31, 2009 at 2:51pm

Correct it was a financial smart to set it up the way it was. As time goes on how much money will be build up in the 9111 fund. At some point we will end with millions of dollars built up with no where to send it. I think had we all had the TRUTH i believe we would have had more input on out system.
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As for the dispatch center correct there would be a lot with building cost and the up keep. The dispatchers that are pubic employees now would still have jobs. I have had a talk about the union part of it. What would the issue be? This would be a hole new position. The union jobs they had would be eliminated. New jobs threw the county would be made. There would not be less jobs but more jobs. Correct me if i am wrong but if you work for company x and the go out of business and company h opens doing the same work and is no union there are no issues. If you wish to work for company h then you apply.
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With the police chief's i think you have the same issue. PRIDE OVER POTECTION. To get a system up as it should be when it came time i believe you would have the same issue with Fire Cheif's as well. Of course the fighting between ambo's will be there as well. Again something we need to work on. In case you missed my last hint on the first page Tom lol. Seems as though so many lose sight of the fact why we are here. Its not for us. Its not to control its to protect the people around us. The people in our community with the best service that can be provided. When someone calls for an ambulance fire truck or cop car they dont care who or where it is just that someone is there.
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the upgrades to 911 will come along. At some point time. But hell we have all this money in the bank and they cant get the shit we have to work. There are grants we could write for the communications part of it all. If we had a whole county communications grant that would be awarded in a heart beat. We would be making a standard where everyone would be able to talk and work with the magic word interoperability. There would be fire tack channels where everyone and there brother wasn't try to talk over each other. Those of us with our own frequencies know the joy of not having to hear that.

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