WASHINGTON-President Clinton, continuing to pitch low-risk, low-cost initiatives linked to telecommunications, last week called on Attorney General Janet Reno, the Federal Communications Commission and the private sector to create a community policing number for non-emergency calls to relieve over-congested 911 systems.
The directive, made in Sacramento, Calif., during a campaign swing through the state last week, follows Clinton’s July 17 announcement of a 50,000 cellular phone donation by industry to neighborhood watch groups.
Clinton in previous weeks offered to fund a college tuition tax credit and school refurbishing with spectrum auction revenues without knowing whether frequencies will be available or how much they’re worth.
“We need a new national community policing number that’s just as simple and easy to remember as 911, so that if you have a tip for the police, if you see a suspicious activity, if a car alarm is going off, you will still be able to call a community policy number,” said Clinton.
“But if you have a real emergency, like domestic violence, you can call 911 and this time, your call will go through,” he added. Clinton noted that 325,000 calls to 911 were abandoned last year in Los Angeles before the operator could answer. “Who knows how many of them involved life-threatening emergencies,” said Clinton.
The White House said non-emergency calls to 911 range from 70 percent in Norfolk, Va., to 80 percent in Los Angeles and Atlanta to nearly 90 percent in Arapahoe County, Colo., resulting in backups that have left callers on hold for up to 30 minutes.
John Ramsey, head of government affairs at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials International Inc. in South Daytona, Fla., said the association is withholding judgment until more information is gathered and input is received from members. Ramsey said there is a pilot project involving a non-emergency number in Baltimore, and that a panel at APCO’s annual meeting Aug. 12-15 in San Antonio will examine the president’s proposal.
Ironically, cellular phones are the chosen safety tool of the nation’s 36 million subscribers and as such are partially responsible for overburdening 911 systems. More than 50,000 calls are made to 911 and other emergency numbers each day from wireless phones, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.
That number could rise dramatically in coming years as a result of the cellular industry’s 40 percent growth and the arrival of new providers of personal communications and enhanced specialized mobile radio services.
Unlike many 911 wireline systems, wireless 911 systems do not locate callers. The FCC has given wireless carriers a year-and-a-half to develop call-back and cell-site location capabilities, known collectively as enhanced 911.
“I applaud the president’s challenge,” said Reed Hundt, chairman of the FCC. “We need to make sure that the emergency 911 lane on the information highway is kept clear, and the best way to do that is to develop another lane for those who need non-emergency help.”
