WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and SportsLawmakers looking into committee to study 911 system needs

Lawmakers looking into committee to study 911 system needs

Eau Claire (WQOW) - Several local lawmakers respond to a call to look into the future of 911. 

Dispatch centers in Eau Claire and Wood counties recently asked lawmakers to look into 911 system improvements.  Specifically, they want lawmakers to look at equipment, funding and training. 

"There aren't holes in 911 right now, but there are concerns on the horizon that we really need to address so that we don't have issues," says Pam McInnis, Eau Claire Emergency Center Director. 

One major issue is technology.  As cell phones can do more things like sending texts, pictures and even video, 911 centers will need to get information that way. 

"I'm sure there probably will be upgrades with the software, perhaps to servers to receive that and then interpret that sort of thing," says McInnis. 

There is also the issue of tracing a call.  When someone calls using a landline, the persons name, number and address appears. 

"With wireless, what we get is the name of the person or at least the phone number, but we don't get location information beyond GPS coordinates, so it's a little harder to find you," says McInnis. 

More people using cell phones also means fewer dollars because of a surcharge added to landline phone plans. 

"As you can imagine, wireless calls are far overtaking calls from landline, so the number of phones are dwindling and there are some counties that are facing a fairly big deficit," says McInnis. 

There will also be a need for training standards.  Some, but not all 911 centers are able to handle things like emergency medical dispatch.  That's where a dispatcher walks a person through a process, like CPR, until first responders can get there. 

"There are 911 centers with only one or two people on staff," says McInnis.  "And to ask them to make the commitment to emergency medical dispatch is a little difficult in some respects because they only have one person working and when you're doing emergency medical dispatch, it's hard to do anything else.  So that really needs to be looked at." 

Several area lawmakers have sent a letter of support to the co-chairs of the Legislative Council Study Committee.  That's the group in charge of picking what committees are formed.  The committee is expected to announce whether or not the 911 study will be done sometime in February.