911 Gets Grant To Boost Efficiency

SEBRING - Cell phone callers dialing 911 in Highlands County will be better tracked in the near future.
A $482,671 grant will help the sheriff's office upgrade its 911 system from analog to digital. For those who don't understand the difference, that would be like changing from a film camera to a digital one, explained Lisa Burley, chief of staff for Sheriff Susan Benton.

Burley said the new 911 system will help not just cell phone users. It will help in officer safety; tracing emergency medical calls, such as disoriented callers, people suffering dementia or who are unfamiliar with the area; or even locating victims of a crime.

"That's a big deal to 911, being able to know where to send help," said Rob Jordan, information services administrator at the sheriff's office.

The current Positron Lifeline 911 System, which handles all the calls and data coming into the county, had reached the end of its "useful life," said Burley.

"When that funding came available, we immediately applied," she said.

Jordan said the digital technology is more flexible and capable than the old analog phone systems relying on switches opening and closing.

The county was also having a hard time finding parts for the old system.

"So we had to move to new technology," he said.
The sheriff's office has additional money it has set aside.

"We also have a certain percentage we've set aside, $234,000, we're going to use as a match that we'll rolled over," Burley said.

The 911 emergency call systems have not kept with technology.

For example, all calls made using new VoiP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology won't work during a power outage because the power to the Internet is down.

Therefore, 911 calls made during a power outage from these systems will not go through to 911, or anywhere else, according to Deputy J.P. Fane, the sheriff's 911/Homeland Security coordinator.