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Tracing Wireless Calls to 911 Urged Exclusive: Commissioners Voted to Get Process Going to Rid System of the Weakness Within a Year.

Posted on: Saturday, 3 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Jennifer Learn-Andes, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

May 23--The roughly 65,000 cell phone calls that come into Luzerne County 911 each year still can't be traced by location -- a shortcoming 911 Director Alan Pugh plans to correct within a year, maybe sooner.

County commissioners voted last week to seek proposals from companies to help determine which cellular call-tracing upgrades are necessary and how to maximize government reimbursements to pay for the technology.

The state uses a $1 surcharge on wireless phone service that began in July 2004 to pay for such equipment, said Justin Fleming, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.

The fee has been returning about $85 million annually, Fleming said.

Fourteen counties can trace cell phone calls by location, and the state wants the remaining 53 counties to be able to do likewise within three to five years, Fleming said.

"We're well on our way," Fleming said. "With the large volume of cell phone users increasing seemingly daily, we don't want anyone to be stranded when they need access to 911."

Implementation of cell phone tracking has been a local priority because several major highways cut through Luzerne County. With 76 municipalities, county residents aren't always sure which municipality they're in, let alone people who are just passing through, Pugh said.

"God forbid you're from out of town. It's a horrible feeling not to know where you are," he said.

Pugh expects the upgrades will end up costing several million dollars.

When the new cell tracking system is in place, the county will receive data streams from cellular phone companies as cell calls come into 911. The caller's location will pop up on a map.

The map itself should be more accurate than ever, Pugh said, because 911 is merging its accurate street addresses with fresh maps compiled during county reassessment. The reassessment maps were based on new flyovers of the entire county.

Pugh is hoping to get cellular tracking on line by the end of the year, but said he's promising spring 2007 because of all the testing.

The county must make sure sample calls from five different cell phone companies get through and can be read by the county's programs. Testing of towers is also needed to make sure they are routing the calls to the correct county, Pugh said.

In other business, Pugh obtained approval from commissioners at their May 17 meeting to seek accreditation through the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc., and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International. More than 200 standards must be met -- something Pugh expects to take several years.

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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