Half of U.S. Counties Yet to Deploy Phase II E-911

“While 77% of the population resides in an area with Phase II, only 50% of the counties have PSAPs that are Phase II capable,” NENA Govt. Affairs Dir. Patrick Halley told us: “There’s a big discrepancy between population covered and geography covered. Clearly what that shows is that the more metropolitan areas are obtaining the technology while the rural areas are not.”

All PSAPs in 12 states and D.C., from Wash. to Vt., are Phase II capable, but the numbers are below 50% in half the states. The problem is worst in the deep South and among Western and Plains states. But Pa. (28.36%) and O. (10.23%) also are badly behind. Among the major laggards are Okla. (1.3%), Alaska (4.17%), Utah (10.34%) and Wyo. (13.04%).

Many states have struggled to make their PSAPs Phase I capable, with 16 states reporting under 50% of counties as deployed. Pa. (47.76%) and O. (31.82%) have struggled in getting their counties Phase I capable.

Emergency communications officials said Tues. new data show that while the nation has made significant progress since Sept. 11, 2001, many counties and entire states aren’t keeping pace. With Phase II E-911, wireless subscribers can make an emergency call and easily be located by a PSAP, similar to wireline capability provided in Phase I.

NENA Pres. Bill Munn, a longtime emergency communications official in Tex., told us Phase II deployment mirrors Phase I deployment, with rural counties unable to raise revenue for PSAP upgrades. “911 service is a switching service provided by the phone companies, and nothing is free,” Munn said: “A lot of the rural areas could not raise money and fees to pay for it. We have counties in Texas with less than 1,000 people and they'd have to set one heck of a fee in order to pay that cost.”

“The jury is still out” on whether many counties will be able to get funding together to pay for deployment, Munn said: “It’s just kind of a helpless feeling that this is just the way it’s going to be. There’s a lot of frustration on the part of 911 management on being able to implement this the rest of the way.”

In many small counties existence of a dedicated funding source through a charge passed on to consumers isn’t an answer, Halley said: “In rural Montana or rural Mississippi or anywhere like that even if they do have a surcharge in place, the amount of money generated is so insignificant that it can takes years… for these upgrades. Funding is a huge challenge that can’t be underestimated.”

Many govt. officials think “more progress has been made than really has,” Halley said. Besides funding, leadership is a key factor, he said: “34 states have a state 911 coordinator and those states by the numbers have deployed faster.”

Last week, NENA, the Assn. Of Public Communications Officials and the E-911 Institute urged Congress to fully fund E-911 deployment (CD July 13 p9) and require states to use E-911 surcharges to pay for deployment. NENA hopes launch of the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and of the National E-911 Office within NTIA also will help, Halley said.

Emergency communications officials in small counties have horror stories about calls reaching PSAPs where 911 operators couldn’t locate callers, said Tom Ling, dir. of communications at Johnson County Central Dispatch in Mo.

“We need to get the necessary technology out there through funding so that people don’t have to continue to suffer and can have the expectation that when they call 911 someone is going to be there,” Ling said. Most don’t realize the extent to which Phase II E-911 isn’t available in many counties, he added. “If you go out and ask the average citizen traveling down the street if they grab their cellphone and call E-911 if they would be connected the same way they have enjoyed through the years through wireline I think that misconception is out there,” he said: “I don’t think it’s well understood.”