The California Highway Patrol is trialing an E-911 communications center in Sacramento that it hopes will serve as a model for centers throughout the state to answer all wireless 911 calls.
The California Highway Patrol currently operates 26 E-911 centers that handle nearly all of the state’s wireless 911 calls, said George Hardin, telecom analyst for the CHP.
Many of the E-911 systems are not compatible, and this trial is aimed at replacing all the systems with a standard network, he said.
The call center uses Northern Telecom Inc.’s Meridian Automatic Call Distribution function, which distributes calls in a manner similar to lines at a local bank branch, said Nortel. Each call is answered immediately by the system and then placed in line for the next available operator. Rather than waiting in individual lines for each operator, calls are queued in one line and answered in the order received.
The new system also adds telephone trunk lines and a new automated attendant menu on the public information line, which handles routine calls and allows dispatchers to concentrate on 911 and freeway callboxes, said CHP.
The system also helps deal with redundant calls, which occur when several wireless users call to report the same incident, which bogs down the agency’s dispatchers.
Hardin estimates as many as half of all calls to a typical call center, or the equivalent of 7.3 personnel hours per day, could be saved using an automatic call distribution system like the one CHP is trialing.
A call center agent can handle two emergency calls for every one public service call, he said.
Another useful feature of the call center is a Caller ID function, which allows dispatchers to see the caller’s valid subscriber cellular telephone number.
This would allow dispatchers to dial the caller if more information is needed or if the original call is disconnected.
“The pilot program at the CHP’s Sacramento Communications Center will enable us to fine tune and test different systems before we begin installing our final selection throughout the state,” said CHP Commissioner Dwight Helmick. “The combined features of this telephone system are expected to markedly improve the handling of 911 calls.”
The system, which is not capable of providing location information to dispatchers, has been in place in Sacramento since last month and will be in trials for about three months, said Hardin.
