Emergency Communications: The Future of 911 (PDF; 316 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via OpenCRS)
Today’s 911 system is built on an infrastructure of analog technology that does not support many of the features that most Americans expect are part of an emergency response. Efforts to splice newer, digital technologies onto this aging infrastructure have created points of failure where a call can be dropped or misdirected, sometimes with tragic consequences. Callers to 911, however, generally assume that the newer technologies they are using to place a call are matched by the same level of technology at the 911 call center. This is not the case. For example, except for some work-around solutions, Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs)—the call centers—cannot receive text messages. Technology to supply accurate location information for wireless calls is useless unless the systems receiving and processing the call have matching capability.
Modernizing the system to provide the quality of service that approaches the expectations of its users will require investments in new technologies. The general consensus is that these new technologies, collectively referred to as Next Generation 911 or NG9-1-1, should incorporate Internet Protocol (IP) standards. An IP-enabled emergency communications network that supports 911 will facilitate interoperability and system resilience; improve connections between 911 call centers, provide more robust capacity; and offer flexibility in receiving calls. Grants and loans, authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (H.R. 1), to support broadband deployment could be awarded for public safety. Thus, plans to expand broadband access across the nation can be meshed with plans to develop IP-enabled internetworks to meet emergency communications needs, including state-of-the-art 911 connectivity.
Recognizing the importance of providing effective 911 service, Congress has passed three major bills supporting improvements in the handling of 911 emergency calls. The most recent of these—the NET 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-283)—required the preparation of a National Plan for migrating to an IP-enabled emergency network. The plan is to be prepared by the E-911 Implementation Coordination Office (ICO), created to meet requirements of an earlier law, the ENHANCE 911 Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-494). ICO is co-administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
The ICO is scheduled to terminate on October 1, 2009. This leaves little time to implement recommendations for the National Plan; other goals set for the ICO by Congress will likely not be met. To assure continuity of leadership, Congress may choose to re-authorize the ICO. It could also consider other means to coordinate Congressional policy and monitor progress toward the fundamental policy goal of creating an IP-enabled emergency communications network. Given the immediate opportunities to fund recommendations, the absence of leadership and planning could have negative consequences.
Other types of citizen-activated emergency calls are handled in call centers. Increasingly many calls for assistance are placed by dialing 211. The number has been provisionally designated for community information and referrals. Service levels and response times for 211 calls would benefit from a transition to IP-enabled networks and in many cases could share infrastructure with 911 networks. Legislation introduced in 111th Congress includes two bills covering 211 call centers: S. 211 (Senator Clinton) and H.R. 211 (Representative Eshoo).
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 2:10 am and is filed under Congressional Research Service, Government and politics, Safety, Technology, Telecommunications.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.