WASHINGTON—A leading public-safety advocate on Tuesday refrained from giving carriers a grade on wireless enhanced 911 deployment but said the goal has not been met.
“Until we have 911 service in a wireless environment in America, we have yet to accomplish the goal. It is hard, I think, to just offer a grade. There has some been some progress in deployment … but I will tell you I am one of the four signatories on the original consent decree between public safety and industry. I signed the consent agreement in 1995. This is seven years later and we are all very dependent upon living in a mobile and a wireless world. Until we accomplish the goal and accomplish the mission, we don’t get an A,” said Thera Bradshaw, incoming president of the Association of Public-safety Communications Officials.
Bradshaw was participating in a press event here to honor emergency call-takers—APCO calls them the “first-first responders”—involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
In addition, Bradshaw announced the creation of a foundation to be created to fund the public-safety side of E911 implementation. The seed money from the foundation is a pledge from Nextel Communications Inc. of $25 million.
