What is it?
The 911 system is a method of obtaining emergency services by telephone
without having to memorize any 7 or 10 digit phone numbers.
It is designed to work anywhere in the United States when you have an emergency requiring the assistance of the police,
a fire departement or a rescue company. Ideally you can pick up any phone, anywhere in the United States, dial
9 1 1
and be quickly connected to a dispatcher for one or more emergency service providers.
Where did it come from?
The 911 system was designed after the highly successful 999 system of Great Britain.
Before its implementation, if you needed any emergency services you had to look up
the phone number for the appropriate service, dial it, wait for an answer, then relay
all relevant information including your location to whomever answered the phone.
If you needed multiple services you often had to make multiple calls.
The only alternative was to dial "0" for Operator, and hope he or she would be able to transfer you to
the correct department. This system often resulted in delays in obtaining the appropriate emergency services
and getting them dispatched to the correct location.
Often delays were encountered or mistakes were made which sometimes led to tragic results.
Great Britain was the first country to do something to alleviate these problems.
After delays were experienced in reporting a fire on Wimpole Street in London resulting in 5 fatalities,
the British Government embarked upon their "999" System which was implemented on Thursday,
July 8, 1937.
The first 999 call was placed at 4:20 a.m. when the wife of John Stanley Beard (33 Elsworthy Rd., Hampstead, London)
dialed 999 to report a burglar outside her home. The burglar, 24 yeard-old Thomas Duffys, was apprehended.
The United States took a little longer to implement their "911" System.
In February 1967 President Lyndon Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice issued
its report, recommending that police departments have a single number to call,
and that eventually that single number should be used nationwide.
The report stated, "The Commission recommends: Wherever practical, a single police telephone number should be
established, at least within a metropolitan area and eventually over the entire United States,
comparable to the telephone company's long-distance information number."
The recommendation was based on input from the Commission's Task Force on Science and Technology.
Is it any wonder that it took so long to implement.
At 2 P.M. on Friday, February 16, 1968 the first-ever 911 call in the United States was placed by
Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite from Haleyville City Hall to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill (Dem.)
at the city's police station. Bevill reportedly answered the phone with "Hello."
This was just the first "911" call.
It was not until 1972 that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recommended that 911 be implemented nationwide,
and March of 1973 that the White House's Office
of Telecommunications issues National Policy Bulletin Number 73-1,
which recognized the benefits of 911 and encouraged its nationwide adoption. See
http://www.911dispatch.com/911/history/
for a complete detailed account of its development.
How does it work?
When you pick up a phone and dial "9 1 1", through the wonders of modern science your call will be routed to
a regional dispach center. The selection of this dispach center is determined by your local telephone company
based upon your location and the location of your emergency service providers.
These centers are usually staffed by full time employees and are funded partially by a small surcharge
which you pay on your telephone bill (usually in the $1 per month range) and partially by tax money at the
town or county level. This funding not only must pay the wages of the dispachers, but also for the equipment
in the dispach center and at the phone compay switching center.
For Wayne County, the dispatch center is located next to the Court House in Honesdale.
It used to be in the basement of the Court House, but after having to be evacuated twice in the last five
year because of flooding, it was recently relocated to higher ground.
There are currently plans to move it to a much higher, more secure location near Beach Lake in the near future.
When you dial "911" in Wayne County, a phone will ring in the Wayne County Dispatch Center.
Before the dispatcher can even answer your call, the name and street address of the registered owner of the phone
being used to make the call will be displayed on a computer screen along side the phone.
That screen will also contain information identifying which agencies (fire, police, ambulance)
should respond to that location if needed.
The dispatcher will still ask for that information to verify that the information on his screen is correct in case you
are calling to report an emergency at another location. The dispatcher will also ask you to describe the emergency
so that the appropriate agency can be dispached.
Even if you don't complete the call, or hang up before it is answered, the dispatcher may send a police officer to
your location to verify that no emergency exists.
If you live in Paupack Township, Wayne County, Pennslyvania and require a response by a fire company, the
Lakeville Volunteer Fire Company will be dispatched. The dispatcher will send a message by radio which will
activate pagers carried by the members of the Fire Company. Once activated these pagers will tell the responders
where to respond and what type of situation exists there. Some of the members will then respond to Lakeville's
Main Station on Daniels Road to get the fire trucks, others may respond directly to your location.
Does it always work?
Like any manual, mechanical or electronic system, it is not fool-proof, but it does work well over 99.999% of the time.
There is always a chance that, when you call the 911, the center will be flooded with calls and there may be a delay
in answering your call. There is also a chance that the emergency providers that you require may be busy answering
other calls
and a neighboring agency may need be dispached under a mutual aid system thereby delaying the response.
These delays are usually rare. Even when the power goes out most hard-wired phones still work.
The system was designed when telephones were provide by the "Bell System" and almost all phones were hard-wired
to the wall, and didn't require batteries. Since that time, the "Bell System" has been broken up, wire-less battery
powered phones have been introduced, and worst of all cell phones and internet based systems have been introduced.