In May 2006 , two child in Texas helped finish a four - man rest home invasion in forward motion in their own abode . That same month , a four - year - sure-enough son helped save his mother ’s life when she started have an epileptic seizure , and a two - year - onetime beagle called for help when her mortal buckle under to adiabeticseizure - all by dial nine , one and one on atelephone keypad(in the Beagle ’s case , she only advertise speed - dial phone number " 9 " and left the earphone off the lure ) . These types of cases are an everyday natural event at any 9 - 1 - 1 Public Safety Answering Point ( PSAP ) in the United States . Okay , the beagle thing was middling rare , but still not unheard of .
As of 2006 , 99 percent of the U.S. population has 9 - 1 - 1 service . There are 200 million 9 - 1 - 1 call per twelvemonth in the United States , and 9 - 1 - 1 call - takers meet a mind - boggle regalia of emergencies in their credit line of work . They must be prepared for almost anything . One operator in Florida picked up a call from a man who was in the process of strangle . The call - taker walked the man through the mental process of perform the Heimlich maneuver on himself using the back of a hot seat , deal with the place in an incredibly calm , encourage manner considering the circumstance . She assure him , after one failed Heimlich attempt , " I want you to assay to lunge upward right under your belly button . Can you do that ? Come on , sweetie , strain it for me . " The man free a piece of chicken and was able to take a breath again before the dispatched firefighters made it to his house .
The estimate behind 9 - 1 - 1 is middling uncomplicated : Give people a single , easy - to - remember number to call to experience help during anylife - threatening situation . There is no national 9 - 1 - 1 system . The answering points and corresponding communique services are do up and maintained locally , usually by county , often in a joint effort between local government and any phone companies active in the domain . You pay for 9 - 1 - 1 with your local taxis and through a surcharge on your phone bill .
so as to be efficacious , any emergency arrangement needs to do three introductory thing :
This is all that bump inbasic9 - 1 - 1 service . Inenhanced9 - 1 - 1 service , the answering pointedness ’s equipment also automatically displays the caller ’s name and location , making whole step three above quicker and more reliable . Enhanced 9 - 1 - 1 ( E911 ) is not the same thing as wireless 9 - 1 - 1 , but wireless 9 - 1 - 1 does expect E911 melioration to be in place in ordering to work . The 9 - 1 - 1 system of rules , which has always been found on thepublic switched telephone connection(PSTN ) that most of us use every Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , has to conform to constantly germinate technology , including the proliferation ofcell phones,VoIP , and the introduction of base hit measures likein - vehicle crash notification systems . Cell phones in picky have posed some heavy challenges to 9 - 1 - 1 , and we ’ll get into that a second by and by . For now , we ’ll focus on the 9 - 1 - 1 organisation in use when you dial out from a landline , which is still ( but just barely ) the most common direction that people access a 9 - 1 - 1 answering point .
The speech sound lines in use when you dial 9 - 1 - 1 are sometimes consecrated lines and switches intended to offer some extra certificate from outages and congestion , but they ’re still just unconstipated speech sound descent . The PSTN organization routes 9 - 1 - 1 calls to thePublic Safety Answering Point(PSAP ) nearest to where the call originated . The hustler at the PSAP gather info about the pinch and alerts the proper agency - the police , the fire department or pinch medical services ( EMS ) , or sometimes all three .
In the next section , we ’ll take a look at what goes on behind the scenes to make all of this work as smoothly as possible .
Basic 9-1-1 Systems
As of 2006 , some 7 percent of 9 - 1 - 1 service is stillbasic 9 - 1 - 1 . Here ’s what this type of call looks like :
In most canonical 9 - 1 - 1 system , you ’re looking at several pieces of equipment ( besides the PSTN ) that bet a crucial character in the process . Some common 9 - 1 - 1 equipment includes :
Next , we ’ll take a look at how E911 is different .
Enhanced 9-1-1 Systems
Enhanced 9 - 1 - 1is a very like system , but it has some upgrades and modifications that make the whole process run more smoothly . There ’s more engineering take - in E911 , there ’s a whole local " 9 - 1 - 1 meshing " of collaborative databases that plays a role before the PSAP manipulator even picks up the call . For an E911 frame-up , bring to the equipment tilt above :
As of 2006 , 93 percent of 9 - 1 - 1 insurance coverage is enhanced 9 - 1 - 1 . Here ’s what the call looks like :
When you ’re dialing from a landline , this system works really well . But when Modern phone technology enters the scene , a few hiccups emerge . The PSTN is not like a cellphone - phone web , and it ’s definitely not like a VoIP web . The rise of both of these types of phone help has placed demands on the 9 - 1 - 1 organization to accommodate for maintain an effective public - safety web .
Wireless Issues
As of 2006 , more than 8 million multitude in the United States employ acell phoneas their only phone. Public - rubber means report thatwireless callsmake up anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of 9 - 1 - 1 calls . Until late , when someone squall 9 - 1 - 1 from a cell earpiece , no information look on the call - taker ’s screen even in enhanced 9 - 1 - 1 organisation , and the call was n’t always routed to the approximate PSAP to the caller ’s location . It could end up at any PSAP in the remote vicinity , depending on how the case-by-case wireless provider had countersink up 9 - 1 - 1 routing . Local 9 - 1 - 1 systems have been implementing modification to 9 - 1 - 1 to allow for greater wireless compatibility , and upgrades are still happening now . The FCC has defined the upgrade in two stage :
There is no standardized method of implement Phase II , so wireless providers , in conjunction with local public - safety agencies , are using various setups for offer cell - sound positioning information to PSAPs . There are two basic approach shot : handset - based and web - based .
The handset - based root is pretty straightforward . The sound you carry around has a fullGPS receiverbuilt - in , and when you dial 9 - 1 - 1 on the headphone , the GPS receiver locate itself using artificial satellite orbiting overhead . It tap into radio signals emitted by at least three orbiter and time how long it takes the signals to reach the telephone receiver . Usingtrilateration , the liquidator can then decide its location ( seeHow GPS Receivers Workto learn all about trilateration ) . What happens next varies with unlike systems , but one typical approaching is moderately much a fluid mirror of the landline Enhanced 9 - 1 - 1 mental process . When your call reaches a cell sound antenna , the antenna send out not only your phonation data and phone number , but also the latitude and longitude coordinates generated by the GPS liquidator to the mobile switching station . The mobile switch either forwards the call to the dedicated 9 - 1 - 1 electric switch ( the same single used by landline call ) for PSAP routing or routes the call itself to the close PSAP , depending on the routing way of life the wireless carrier prefer . At the PSAP , mapping equipment ( typically the CAD equipment discussed in the previous system ) converts those co-ordinate to a street address that the call - taker can understand and provide to the dispatched emergency personnel department . Verizon Wireless , Nextel , Sprint PCS and ALLTEL employ a handset - based scheme .
The net - based solvent is unlike from the French telephone method only in how the phone mother its parallel and longitude coordinates . A uncouth execution of mesh - found location - finding involves putting additional radio equipment on web base stations so that , in essence , they move something like a GPS receiver . When you dial 9 - 1 - 1 on your earpiece , the phone charge out radio receiver signals to at least three of these towers , and the telephone receiver in each tugboat sentence how long it get hold of for each signal to make its receiver . Using trilateration ( the same method acting used in GPS technology ) , the connection can then nail the location of the cell phone to an accuracy of 100 to 300 meters . Once the meshing has the latitude and longitude coordinates of the phone , it can send them with your voice call to the internet switch station . AT&T Wireless , Cingular and T - Mobile use a connection - based method .
While your cell speech sound almost surely has basic 9 - 1 - 1 capacity at this point ( meaning you could dial 9 - 1 - 1 and reach a PSAP , even it ’s not the skinny one to where you ’re calling from ) , implementing these wireless service improvements postulate a collaboration between public safety gadget agency and all of the wireless carriers in your area , so it ’s a complicated unconscious process . financing is often a problem , because both basal methods for generating cell - phone locations are pretty expensive , and there is no set normal about who should pay for the upgrade – wireless - programme supplier ? Wireless - phone users ? PSAPs ? In at least one representative , a landline phone company has demanded a per - call routing charge for every wireless 9 - 1 - 1 call that terminate up at the phone company ’s dedicated 9 - 1 - 1 switch .
In most cases , some compounding of the Byzantine groups fund the execution of wireless 9 - 1 - 1 services ; but in a lot of area , there ’s just not enough money to do the raise . So it ’s not a shaft - dunk that your call to 9 - 1 - 1 is run to be a smooth , Phase II experience . Also , look on when you bought your French telephone , it may or may not be up to of taking vantage of these improvement ( although most are by now ) . Call your wireless provider to rule out which case of location - finding system it uses and whether your particular phone model is fit to take reward of the organisation .
If you have a serious emergency and you necessitate to call 9 - 1 - 1 from your electric cell phone , roleplay it dependable – remember , reckon on where you are , there ’s about a 20 percent chance that the call - taker does not even see your earphone figure on his or her screen . The first thing you should do is severalize the call - taker what andwherethe emergency is . Remember , there ’s about a 35 percentage opportunity that the call - taker has no precise information about where you are . You must remember to provide the location information quickly , because if the call gets dropped early on and the call - taker does n’t have your number , he or she ca n’t even call you back to get the location . Next , provide your cellular telephone telephone number clearly so if the call does get dropped , the call - taker can call you back to continue assist you .
The late ascending in VoIP services has also led to some challenges for 9 - 1 - 1 inspection and repair . We ’ll await at these next .
VoIP Issues
Another technology that can cause job in 9 - 1 - 1 emergencies isVoIP , orvoice - over - Internet protocol . Some estimate have about 15 million people in the United States using VoIP by 2008 . When VoIP scheme first gained popularity , there were some problems when it came to accessing 9 - 1 - 1 emergency services . Some VoIP customers reported not being capable to arrive at 9 - 1 - 1 at all . In those cases , the VoIP provider often did not configure the single system to access 9 - 1 - 1 , which can take some tweaks . Sometimes the VoIP endorser was theorise to specifically call for for full 9 - 1 - 1 accession , a demand buried somewhere in the small print of some service contracts . ordinarily , though , the problem was on the receiving ending : The answer PSAP could n’t see the VoIP caller ’s location info because , in a common sense , that headphone phone number has no forcible location .
Many VoIP systems are completely portable , working from any wideband link – in kernel , the " phone issue " is anIP address . As far as 9 - 1 - 1 is occupy , VoIP works totally other than from a regular phone , and it works in numerous different ways depending on how the sign is being carried – it could be viacable modem , DSL , T1 , and awired or wireless web , to name just a few change argument . In most abode VoIP setups , voice signals start in the PSTN , switch to the net for the majority of their journey , and then get back on the phone lines . When , where or if the call gets routed to the dedicated 9 - 1 - 1 headphone switch depends on the individual VoIP arrangement . One organization , Intrado ’s V9 - 1 - 1 Mobility Service , attend something like this :
The FCC has mandated that all VoIP supplier include full , default access to 9 - 1 - 1 services ( the customer does n’t have to request it ) and that supplier postulate a default physical emplacement when setting up the story . This is the entropy that will be die to the PSAP if you call 9 - 1 - 1 from that invoice .
It ’s unreadable whether all VoIP providers have reached full FCC deference at this time , so read your VoIP service agreement carefully to see if you need to give your service supplier additional entropy ( such as a default option destination ) for have full 9 - 1 - 1 capabilities . Remember also that VoIP systems can go down if the power is out or your wideband connecter fails , so you may need to get a generator to supply power to your VoIP phone personal credit line . You might also consider maintaining a regular phone line in the event that you ca n’t call out from your VoIP phone .
In the face of fresh technology requirement , local 9 - 1 - 1 systems are undergoing some handsome change . Some counties are start to transfer 9 - 1 - 1 information via secure Intranet rather of relying only on phone lines . The digitization of data is the next step in 9 - 1 - 1 communication theory and will likely require a thoroughgoing reformatting of the 9 - 1 - 1 base . This move would increase collaboration between emergency office by set aside for logical information communion and greater overall accessibility . In the far future , it could earmark for the conveyance of multimedia system files , like a caller ’s cell - sound video clip of the emergency she ’s reporting , at once to the call - taker ’s computing machine screen .
Now that we ’ve address the engineering that make 9 - 1 - 1 body of work , it ’s metre to look at the rest of the equating : the people who make it bring .
The Human Side
It may seem like a mere thing to determine when to call 9 - 1 - 1 , but some PSAPs describe between 15 and 20 pct of incoming calls as non - emergencies . So , what ’s a 9 - 1 - 1 emergency ? A 9 - 1 - 1 exigency is alife - threateningsituation in which every second counts . This includes serious aesculapian issues , like a spunk attack , uncontrolled asthma blast , seizure , nipper birth in progress , or anything involving large amounts ofblood ; any uncontainedfire ; and a life - menace outcome like a tongue combat outside a legal community , an armed looting in progress or a serious car accident ( not a wing bender ) . prop theft is not consider an parking brake , so if the armed robber has already impart the scene , you could just appear up the number for the constabulary section rather of calling 9 - 1 - 1 , since life sentence are no longer in risk . Neither a flattire , a intoxicated individual passed out in your pubic hair nor a serious desire to talk to someone about your late divorce is considered a 9 - 1 - 1 hand brake .
Even when there is a legitimate emergency and a caller is right to call 9 - 1 - 1 , the call does n’t always go swimmingly . Some mistakes that caller-up make include calling 9 - 1 - 1 and then leaving the sound or just hang up , don the operator has all the necessary information when in fact he or she may have no information at all . Callers often hang up too presently during a call , causing the call - taker to have to call back to sustain details and verify aid has arrived . One big but often unavoidable problem happens when the phoner is hysteric and the call - taker ca n’t understand what the telephoner is say , in which typesetter’s case incur accurate information takes a mass retentive than common . And sometimes , caller do n’t pay enough attending to their environment to bring home the bacon the location information the call - taker need .
In June 2006 in Pennsylvania , six - class - old Brandon Bennett got it right . He ascertain his grandmother go into diabetic impact and immediately called 9 - 1 - 1 , putting in motion the series of upshot that would keep open her lifetime . With the aid of the 9 - 1 - 1 call - taker , Brandon made a proper 9 - 1 - 1 call , which calculate something like this :
Call - takers are direct to ask the right dubiousness , calm hysteric callers and get emergency personnel to the scene as quickly as possible . In an emergency post , none of these is necessarily an well-situated task . In May 2006 in Warrensburg , Missouri , a 9 - 1 - 1 call - taker picked up a call and learn nothing but a barely audible " Help me , assist me . " This went on for five minutes while the call - taker was trying to get some sort of information from a clear debilitated phoner so he could send help . The caller was using a cell phone , and this PSAP had not yet follow up Phase II , so the call - taker had nothing but a very vague universal locating and a call - back number . Five instant into the call , all communicating discontinue . It sound like the caller had lose consciousness .
The operator remain persevering . He stayed on the pedigree for 20 minutes , listen intently to nothing but some background knowledge noise and , finally , asmoke warning signal , until the woman retrieve consciousness for long enough to provide some partial computer address information . The call - taker dispatched emergency personnel to the apartment building the woman indicated , and they knocked on doors until they heard their own pink through the radio set link to the PSAP . They found the correct apartment and rescue a 21 - year - old , unconscious pregnant woman who likely would have died from roll of tobacco intake if she ’d remain unexplored for much long . An unattended pot on the kitchen range had replete the apartment with smoke and was quick to produce a ardour at any minute .
911 Mistakes
Call - taker involve to be capable to handle a tremendous variety of issues with patience and expertise . They receive training in crisis response not only in full term of deportment , but also in crisis management tools and in the genuine things that necessitate to happen when law , fire and paramedics respond to an emergency . The 9 - 1 - 1 call - taker live what they involve to ask for get the first responders there safely and fully equipped to palm the situation . Further training may involve :
Even with extensive grooming , call - taker mistakes happen . And when the mistake is regarding a 9 - 1 - 1 call , the consequence can be devastating . One case of 9 - 1 - 1 human error that received national attention is that of the 9 - 1 - 1 calls made by a five - twelvemonth - old boy in Detroit in February 2006 . Robert Turner called 9 - 1 - 1 when his momma , Sherrill Turner , collapsed from heart problems . The call - taker mentation he was making a japery call and asked for an adult , and when Robert say he could n’t get an grownup on the earphone , the call - taker said she ’d send help and hung up . But service did n’t make it . Three minute later , his ma still unconscious , Robert called 9 - 1 - 1 again . This time , a unlike call - taker answered , but it was the same upshot – the call - taker reckon it was a kid playing around , and she told him he ’d get in trouble if he kept it up . Robert get scared and give ear up . His mom drop dead , although no one is sure exactly when . Both operators have been indict on electric charge of willful neglect of obligation and could face jailhouse sentence . Robert ’s family is filing awrongful last suitagainst the city because they conceive that if the first operator had properly answer to Robert ’s call , Sherrill Turner would still be alive .
Not all call - taker mistakes are so devastating and unimaginable , but the fact is , when someone calls 9 - 1 - 1 and the individual who pick up is not on the ball , bad things are going to happen . In Astoria , Oregon , in October 2005 , a call - taker dismissed a call cover a fire – she just asserted there was no fire , that it was just " the play of light in the rain and daze . " It was n’t until another person called 9 - 1 - 1 15 min after to report the same blaze that firefighters were murder to the field , and by that time there was nothing they could do .
It ’s likely that most call - taker error can be attribute to stress . Handling lifetime - threaten emergencies all day is not an easy task , and call - taker can have severe problem - related stress issue . Some finally endure from critical incident stress syndrome ( CISS ) , a condition something like post - traumatic stress disorderliness ( PTSD ) but it affects people who are incessantly close to and intricately necessitate in other masses ’s massive crises and tragedies . CISS can cause symptom like serious anxiety , nightmares and an unfitness to grapple with nerve-wracking situations in daily life . Most PSAPs volunteer not only preparation in emphasis management , but also have psychologist or social workers available for call - takers who need help shell out with the stress of their line of work .
Lots More Information
Related HowStuffWorks Articles
More Great Links
root
