Dispatch center receives new 911 equipment

The Washington County Communications Center has received about $700,000 in new equipment it purchased earlier in the year. Washington County Communications Supervisor Cara Sorrells said her office is undergoing two separate upgrades. One upgrade is the replacement of the entire 911 system. The other upgrade is to the local database that stores the information the 911 system uses to deliver calls. The equipment is from Intrado Inc. based in Long Mont, Colo. Sorrells said her staff was trained on the new equipment Wednesday and that they will begin using it in a matter of days.

?The database has all the landline information and information for the responders,? she said.

Sorrells said that the dispatchers learn things about the residences in town over the years and that this information is put in the database to aid officers or emergency personnel who respond to that address in the future.

?The database contains medical information about the person, or where they keep a key,? she said. ?If you are in Washington, it tells me the Washington Police is your law enforcement, Washington Fire is your fire responder and the Washington Ambulance is your closest EMS. If a call comes in from Riverside Road near 160th street, we know you?re going to get the sheriff?s office, Riverside Fire and Riverside First Responders.?

Sorrells said the reason the new equipment is being installed now is that the current equipment is too old and is wearing out. She said the current 911 computer system for delivering calls is from 2005, which may not seem old but is in fact a long life for a 911 system.

?We can tell that the system is starting to get tired,? she said. ?We haven?t dropped any calls. We know that six years is too long. Imagine playing on the computer 24 hours a day, every day. Tim Smit (IT director) said it?s liking taking the life of your computer times three.?

The dispatch center also received new monitors and new keyboards. Sorrells said the keyboards receive so much use they have to be replaced every three months.

In a year or two, Washington County dispatchers will begin to receive all manner of 911 messages, not just telephone calls. The state is in the initial stages of a project to implement the ?next generation? of 911 technology. This next generation will allow persons to send text messages, pictures and even video to 911 dispatchers. Sorrells said her current 911 system can?t handle those forms of communication but the new one can.

The new 911 equipment will also allow the dispatch center to have a third console, which means three persons could field 911 calls in the event of an emergency. Under the current setup, only two dispatchers can receive 911 calls. A third telephone line allows a third dispatcher to answer calls but only business calls.

?If support staff come in when there is a terrible car wreck, I can answer business lines but not the 911 lines,? Sorrells said. ?The dispatchers are answering the phone calls as soon as they can, but some callers will wait for a few more rings because there are only two people there to answer calls.?

Sorrells said that the dispatch center needed all the 911 consoles it could get a few years ago when a house exploded on the north side of town.

?The whole north end of town called, whether they saw it or just heard an explosion,? she said. ?You just can?t pick up the phone fast enough. It would help to have a third position in there to answer calls.?

Sorrells said she has no plans to hire more staff, even with the addition of a third console.