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High-Tech Center Will 'Save Lives'

Posted on: Monday, 11 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Jul. 9--Hurricane Dennis may test a new state-of-the-art facility that some local officials viewed for the first time Friday morning.

Mayor Bobby Bright and other city officials were on hand for the grand opening of the Public Safety Communications Center.

"It is going to save lives in the future, and it is about time in Montgomery," Bright said. "I just hope we do not have to use it this weekend."

Bright, communications director Rob Stuart and others throughout the city were monitoring Dennis on Friday. The hurricane's projected path and other information were projected on the walls of the communications center. Although the facility was not yet buzzing Friday, the activity level will increase as the storm approaches.

"This will be a really energized center if Dennis hits," Bright said.

The city's Department of Communications began using the building in June and took the first 911 call from the facility June 5.

Public safety was the driving force behind the construction of the building and the purchase of new technology, Bright said.

Residents and public safety personnel will be safer, he said.

"We will be able to respond quicker and (be) more dependable," Bright said.

The centralization of communications and the new technology will allow for a faster response time, he said. The reliability of the old equipment was questionable, Bright said. The equipment was 35 to 40 years old.

If an officer or other public safety personnel is in trouble, there now is technology to trace their vehicle's location and find them, Bright said.

The new digital technology allows for direct communication between all public safety personnel. Before, police and fire personnel did not have a direct link to one another, Bright said. They called each other using a telephone.

Emergency medical services, firefighters and police now can communicate on one frequency when needed.

"This will ensure people here in Montgomery get prompt, quality public safety service," Bright said.

The 911 center also is located in the building. Previously, during high call times such as during thunderstorms, Stuart said there was not enough room for more personnel to take calls.

The center has about 12 operators at any one time. Stuart said there would be about 18 at the height of an emergency.

Various agencies can all work together in the central service center during an emergency with access to phone lines and computers.

Stuart said the facility is the most state-of-the-art in Alabama and likely in the Southeast.

The building cost $8.5 million and the new technology and communication system cost $11 million.

The communications center includes a full-service kitchen, a locker room, showers, and a space and cots for personnel to sleep if they are working around the clock during an emergency.

Bright said the structure is impermeable and could withstand a direct hit from a tornado or hurricane. The building is completely secure in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

There are no windows on the exterior of the building and there are concrete blocks that do not allow vehicles to drive directly up to the center.

If electricity were lost, two enormous generators would power the facility.

"Critical equipment would never notice a loss of power," Stuart said.

The glass inside the front entrance of the building can withstand rounds from an assault rifle, according to the architect.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.

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Source: Montgomery Advertiser

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