Did you ever wonder how 911 really works? Where a 911 call gets answered? How long ago and whoever started the 911 system?
During the past 60 years, 911 has evolved into the Universal Emergency Number for citizens across the country to call for help and make a fast and easy connection to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).
Rio Blanco County’s PSAP is the dispatch center in the heart the county’s new Justice Center in Meeker. It is housed in a somewhat spacious room with three banks of computer terminals each with several screens and a chair, with desks that adjust vertically, encouraging work in a standing position, for body health purposes, at least part of the time.
April 10-16, was National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, established by act of Congress in the early 1990s. The entire month of April is National 911 Education Month, designated as such by Congress in 2008.
The former honors the thousands of men and women who respond to 911 emergency and other calls across the country, dispatch emergency professionals and equipment, transfer calls to appropriate venues and otherwise render life-saving assistance to U.S. citizens and visitors. The latter simply encourages and supports greater knowledge and use of 911—The Number to Know Campaign.
So who does this for us in Rio Blanco County? It’s a dedicated crew of seven individuals serving under the leadership of Mike Cook, County Sheriff Anthony Mazzola’s communications supervisor.
Cook lists James Lantz as his senior dispatcher; Sherrie Johnson, Susan Shelton, Lynne Krause and Rhawnie McGruder as full-time dispatchers; and Nicole Mendenhall and Kelcey Tate as current part-time dispatchers. Erin Musser, the sheriff’s office manager, is a graduate of the dispatch center who has worked for the department for 12 years. Combined, they represent nearly 40 years of service to the county’s public safety endeavor, but several are still within their first five years of service.
Cook says his current team appears to him to be more dedicated to long-term service than any he has worked with in his 11 years.
Cook says, “The phenomenal improvement in working conditions of the new Justice Center over the old courthouse setup, which was very cramped, has greatly improved staff morale and attitude, making the functionality of the dispatch center so much better. This change is a big plus for the community, and we very much appreciate the investment the public has made in us and in this Justice Center.”
According to Cook, the dispatch center has an annual budget of $533,000. Dispatch fees of $36,000 each from the Meeker Police Department and the Eastern Rio Blanco Fire Protection District accrue to the county general fund. Surcharges on land line phone bills and the purchase of pre-paid cell plans amounting to about $36,000 annually accrue to the Eastern RBC 911 Board, made up of representatives of the various emergency service entities, separate from county funding. By state statute, these funds can be spent on certain aspects of 911 service. As more customers convert to cell-phone-only services, however, that funding is diminishing, so the Colorado Public Utilities Commission is looking at alternatives for additional funding, perhaps ways through which regular cell phone subscribers could assist in paying for 911 services.
The history of 911 is interesting.
The National Association of Fire Chiefs first asked in 1957 for a single number system for reporting fires. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, in its final and very comprehensive report, recommended that a single number nationwide be established for any type of emergency call.
In response, the government turned to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a solution. The FCC met with phone giant AT&T to find a means of establishing a universal number that could be implemented quickly.
In 1968, AT&T announced the establishment of 911 as a universal emergency call code. It was a unique number, never having been used as an office code, area code or service code, and it met the long range numbering plans and switching configurations of the telephone industry. For the public, it was brief, easily remembered and easily dialed.
Congress backed AT&T and passed legislation allowing the use of only 911 in the creation of a single emergency calling service as a U.S. standard. A Bell System policy was established to absorb the cost of central office modifications and any additions necessary to accommodate a 911 code. Serviced by Alabama Telephone Co., the first U.S. 911 call was made in February 1968 in Haleyville, Ala.
In March 1973, President Richard Nixon’s White House Office of Telecommunications issued a national policy statement that recognized the benefits of 911, encouraged the nationwide adoption of 911, and provided for the establishment of a Federal Information Center to assist units of government in planning and implementation.
The intense interest in the concept of 911 can be attributed primarily to characteristics of modern society, i.e., increased incidences of crimes, accidents and medical emergencies, inadequacy of existing emergency reporting methods and the continued growth and mobility of the population.
By the end of 1976, 911 was serving about 17 percent of the U.S. population. In 1979, approximately 26 percent of the population of the United States had 911 service, and nine states had enacted 911 legislation.
By 1987, 50 percent of the US population had access to 911 emergency service numbers. Canada also recognized the advantages of a single emergency number and chose to adopt 911 rather than use a different means of emergency reporting, thus unifying the concept and giving 911 international stature. At the end of the 20th century, nearly 93 percent of the population of the United States was covered by some type of 911 service. Now, approximately 96 percent of the geographic U.S. is covered.
In 2015, the Rio Blanco County dispatch center handled 1,516 emergency 911 calls, had 31,192 incoming calls to the sheriff’s department and initiated 10,438 outgoing calls.
