Time to modernize 911 call system
JOEL GIAMBRA Erie County Executive
During the past 24 months, Erie County has worked on consolidating their three Public Safety Answering Points under one roof.

It has always been my belief that the 24 PSAPs we currently have in Erie County are far too many. So Erie County is leading by example in eliminating this unnecessary duplication.

The Erie County Public Safety Communications Center currently receives approximately 900,000 911 calls annually for fire, police or EMS response. One hundred percent of all 911 cellular calls made in Erie County come into the Erie County Communications Center. That is approximately one-half of the total 900,000 calls.

The cellular calls, which are more time-consuming, require preliminary information be taken before the calls can be transferred to the local PSAP for dispatching of first responders. This additional step, in turn, takes away from valuable response time.

There are 153 PSAPs spread across the 58 counties of New York State. Thirty-one of these counties have a single PSAP to provide public safety communications support for their first-response teams. Forty-seven of the 55 counties included in the survey have five or fewer PSAPs. Only two counties in New York have more than eight PSAPs: Westchester County with 45 and Erie County with 24. Orleans, Chautauqua, Genesee, Wyoming, Cattaraugus, Niagara and Erie county have 36 PSAPs among them.

When 911 first began in the late 1960s, the lack of location information from the caller made local knowledge a critical component of the call-taking process, thus the need for multiple PSAPs.

Since that time, technology has advanced so that number and location information is now provided for all landline calls, and we are at Phase II, which includes location and callback number for all cellular 911 calls. We now know through technology where an individual is calling from. So, in addition to the operational and safety concerns, there are significant financial costs for operating with multiple PSAPs.

The county is now proposing to assume operational and fiscal responsibility for the receiving and dispatching of all 911 calls. The 911 calls will be taken and dispatched to first-response teams at no cost to the local jurisdiction.

I believe it not only is a more cost-effective way of providing this critical service, but more importantly removes the current hand-off solution that places our residents at risk every time they call 911.

There will still be some administrative tasks that must remain at each fire or police station, such as reception, record keeping and administrative calls; however, Erie County is prepared to assume responsibility for receiving and dispatching all your 911 calls. It is time we took our 911 call system into the new millennium.