NEXT GENERATION 911
To boldly bring Dispatch to the future.
One time I was on a road trip with my father. We were going to Ottawa to see Willie Nelson, if memory serves. We were listening to the CBC radio station. They were talking about 911 coverage in rural areas and beyond. Touching on new technology and what that meant for people in secluded areas.
It was a call-in show. So, of course, I wanted my voice heard. The CBC was thrilled to have a dispatcher on the line. They asked me about the process in locating a person where little information is available. I explained what happens when we receive a call. We typically get what is called a ‘drop’. If the call is from a home phone, or landline, we get full caller I.D and the associated address. With cell phones, we will get the phone number and GPS coordinates. This is called ANI/ALI (Automatic Number Identification & Automatic Location Identification). But not all calls are so neat. Often callers have no idea where they are. It is up to us to press them until we get a proper location. We may have to guide a caller how to find their GPS coordinates using their cell phones. (hint: use google maps!!!!). If that fails we may depend on landmarks or kilometer markers. This often occurs in cottage country where not all the dirt roads have street signs, or any proper signage for that matter. There is also a lack of maps for these locations. Getting simple directions is often pulling teeth. Not their fault. They are usually distraught; ‘someone just yelled at me to call 911’. Knowing where you are is important people!
There are tools that help bridge those endless racing waters. One of the simplest being What3Words Never heard of it? Try it out. This app/program divides the entire world into 3-meter squares. Each are identified by, you guessed it, a unique combination of 3 words! Instead of finding those landmarks or closest intersections, a caller can simply read us the 3 words off of their phone, and that will give us an exact spot.
It is available to anyone with a smart phone, and yes — we actually use it. I had a caller who could not give me a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. So, I had him install the app. 45 seconds later I had a more precise location than the ‘drop’ I received on my computer. It doesn’t replace good information, but when panic takes over, or you genuinely don’t know where you are, What3Words can be enough to get help rolling in the right direction.
Back to the road trip. The radio host asked if we use E-911, and inquired if our center was up to date on the new technology. E-911, or Enhanced 911(if you’re into that whole brevity thing), changed how we locate people. It was the system responsible for providing more accurate locations than ever before (GPS with an uncertainty). Now, the Red Headed Stranger’s concert was twelve years ago! So, the CBC were bang on. The newest system at the time was indeed E-911. Dang time flies by! That system may seem a little pedestrian now, but at the time it was a game changer. Less conversation and probing about one’s location equals faster response times. The CBC radio host were quite interested. Pressing me for a sound bite! When asked what it would mean if these systems crash, or were not routinely updated, I gave them their snippet. I said that it could mean life or death. And they close the show with my remarks. I was happy to give them the drama they were digging for!
Based on my career at that time, I thought I was talking with a little bit of hyperbole. Now that I have a larger sample size, it most certainly could be a matter of life or death
But that was then, now is the time for NEXT-GENERATION 911: To boldly go where no emergency lines have gone before. Not Star Trekking. Dispatching in the future! Where I’m in charge of my sector. Engage #1! Full speed to the online harassment claim!
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From calling police/fire/ambulance directly, or by dialing ’0’ to get to the old world’s OPERATOR, reaching emergency services has come a long way. I’m told there were even ‘street call boxes’ on a given street corner that dialed the emergency numbers. And let’s not forget ‘sending a runner’. Where you have someone go and fetch help for you. What about simply yelling for help like in the movies?! Okay, that one is real and stuck around. Even with cell phones that doesn’t stop people from shouting HELP! HELP! HELP! The Blair Witch wouldn’t have stood a chance if someone was able to share their location!
The fragmented system was inefficient and was becoming a problem. This prompted the need for a single phone number. Enter : 999? That’s right! Winnipeg first introduced a solo emergency # in 1959 — predating the U.S. system by almost a decade. Those ‘Peggers’ were ahead of the curve.
With the upgraded NG-911, we now have the ability to text message, have crystal clear phone lines and have real time locations of a caller. We can send and receive files. Video calls are even on the way. I am not looking forward to that one! This next gen technology is all done over the internet and experiences far less outages then ever before.
Better technology means better results. It also means keeping up. Endless upgrades, new interfaces, new protocols —more and more training. No one is excited when new systems come in. What we see first is additional work. More things that can go wrong at 3 in the morning. But we adapt. We always do. No choice. Change is expected, and perseverance is given.
We must stay current. Because on the other end of every upgrade is a person who doesn’t know where they are. Someone calling from the middle of nowhere, from a roadside without a sign, from a random highway that the caller can’t quite remember. From a moment where seconds matter. Any upgrade that gives us an edge could prove critical. NG-911 isn’t about shiny new features or future-facing buzzwords. It’s about shrinking the distance between crisis and help.
Looking back, I don’t think I was exaggerating on that call-in show. Systems fail. Technology ages. And when emergency communication lags behind, the cost isn’t inconvenience — It’s measured in minutes, misroutes and missed chances. And yes, one last time, very well could be a matter of life and death
NG-911 is no longer about the future. It is running with the present. I don’t fully know where dispatching is going, but I’m sure they have incoming tools that I haven’t even thought about. My job may be in for even bigger changes. Let alone the inevitable AI update down the line.
Keeping up with the newest tech gives us a new fighting chance to do what we’ve always done: find you, no matter where you are.
- Behind the Headset
