Statewide 9-1-1 system still two years out
POLICE HDQTRS. — When faced with a life or death situation, seconds can matter. But cell phone users in Santa Monica could be waiting minutes before authorities respond to a call for help.
That’s because cell phone calls are first routed to the California Highway Patrol headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, and then transferred to the Santa Monica Police Department. While SMPD’s communication system has the capability of taking the call directly, technology hasn’t caught up yet.
Authorities acknowledge it’s a problem — the average wait time for a cell phone caller to speak to an emergency operator is less than 60 seconds, but often times, it is much longer — especially if many people are calling at once.
“When up to 50 people are calling at the same time, some people are getting through right away and some are holding for a couple of minutes,” said CHP Capt. Steve Webb.
He added that it’s not always a matter of call volume but the phone carriers themselves haven’t fully dialed in their systems and as a result, the call is dropped or callers get a busy signal. And not all cell phones are equipped with global positioning systems (GPS), which is a mapping system that tracks locations.
But as police, local, county and state officials, and cell phone providers work on technological advances, the 9-1-1 system will change in the near future.
Known as E 9-1-1, wireless calls are processed through the network to provide the caller’s telephone number, location and particular answering points that help operators pinpoint where the emergency is originating.
“As technology advanced, GPS was enacted on cell phones... depending on who your provider is, your call may be routed to a local police department,” said Eric Uller, SMPD’s systems analyst. “If it hits a cell phone tower, it would go to us but we don’t have that set up because it doesn’t differentiate between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. “(The statewide system) isn’t that smart yet, it will be, but not yet.”
Getting the system up to speed is part of a statewide plan that is expected to be ready within two years.
“We could start our (system) quickly but sometimes we are delayed by the other agencies,” Uller said, adding that he meets with county and state officials every other month to work on the statewide plan.
While many local agencies like the SMPD have GPS capabilities, the second phase of the plan will allow for agencies to know what the latitude and longitude of the originating call is, Webb said.
When an emergency call is routed to SMPD, E 9-1-1 allows for local emergency operators to at least have the phone number of the caller so if the call is dropped, authorities can call the person back, Uller said. The advanced system, which cost $300,000, was installed a couple of years ago when the SMPD moved into the public safety building behind City Hall.
“We’ll get the location of the cell phone tower it hits, plus the phone number and as the technology improves, we want to plot the location of the caller,” Uller said. “Our system is capable of doing it but our system can’t receive that information yet.”
The SMPD, which has a budget for 21 emergency operators, responds to an average of 300 calls a day. Between 1,500 and 2,000 calls are handled daily by the communications center, Uller said.
As the primary 9-1-1 call center for Los Angeles County, with the exception of the LAPD, CHP handles about 1.2 million emergency calls a year. About 25 percent of them are known as “phantom calls,” meaning no one is on the other line. Most of those calls are erroneous and often are the result of a misdial or a person accidentally pushed the 9-1-1 buttons while it was in a pocket or purse, Webb said. To combat that, CHP recently installed a screening system that requires a caller to push “1” to talk to an emergency operator.
Between 10 to 15 percent of the 9-1-1 calls that reach the CHP don’t meet the criteria for an emergency, Webb said, adding many people call for simple things like asking for directions, weather reports or traffic updates.
“If it’s not life threatening, please don’t call 9-1-1,”Webb said, adding those calls just contribute to the heavy call volume the CHP must deal with daily.
Santa Monica resident Melrose Sprague last month experienced first-hand what can happen when the CHP is inundated by calls. Fearing an assault from a homeless man in front of the Sav-on store on Lincoln Boulevard, Sprague called 9-1-1 from her cell phone but no one answered the call. She quickly hung up, dialed information and got the SMPD’s watch commander number. Officers responded within minutes and arrested her would-be attacker.
“He could have gotten away in the time it took to call 9-1-1,” Sprague said. “It’s really kind of scary, with a life or death situation you don’t know if you’ll get anyone.”
But officials still suggest that people call 9-1-1 instead of their local agency, despite the wait time and technological problems. “9-1-1 is ultimately the best way,”Uller said. “It would be good to have a back-up number for the SMPD but if you call it, it won’t be deemed as a priority call like it is at the CHP.”
Webb asks that people be patient as the statewide plan is devised and cell phone carriers update their technologies.
“Technology has come a long way but it’s not perfect,” he said. “A lot of us have experienced (delays) at some point and we are researching new ways to deal with it.
“We have received complaints and we take them seriously.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 11, 2006. Read the original PDF.