[TrunkCom] 'Call 911' on the Discovery Civilization Channel

[Todd Hartzel]

Greetings All,
      A very interesting TV program is airing on the Discovery 
Civilization Channel.  Its called 'Call 911'.

The program deals with the 'Philadelphia' 911 Center.
Its Discovery's ' ON THE INSIDE ' series.

Its remarkable the similarities to the St Louis City 911 Center.
It airs various times today.  Catch it if you can.  

You notice in this program HUGE boxes next to the CRTs.
Those boxes are of course the E-911 ANI/ALI displays.
When you dial 911, this box displays your phone number,
Address (incl APT #) and name of the phone account.
(Except for Cellular Phones)

Moments later, the CRT will gain access to that same info

I invite those of you that want a taste or a sample of what
we do at 911, take a look at it.  You might gain a finer 
appreciate of the system.

Like the Philadelphia 911 system, we screen all 911 calls
for the EMS & Fire Depts too.  EMS & FIRE do not get the
raw 911 calls.  Instead, we forward the calls to them.  

With the similarities, there are also differences too.  Mainly
that our 911 center is a lot smaller.  Instead of 38 911
operators, how about up to 14 911 operators.  There center
seems to be extremely cramped.  Our's is spacious.

Also, we wear uniforms.  They do not seem to do so.

Once again, enjoy the prg.  Its remarkable the simularities.  
Also not to forget, like the Philly officers, the St Louis officers 
also stand by their I/Mobile (despite the problems).  And I 
believe Philly uses a 20+ channel TRS.  Same as St Louis.

As a 911 operator, I would pass along one BIG 
misunderstanding that seems to be widespread.  Despite
popular belief, when you call 911 from a cell phone:

- We do not know where you are  (surprised by that fact?)
- (In St Louis) Most of the time, the wrong number shows
up on those HUGE E-911 Boxes.  (Usually its the Cellular
provider's generic phone number)  

Please folks, when you call from a cell phone, one of the
very first questions we are going to ask:

- Where are you?
- What is your (C)all (B)ack number?
- What is your name?

Cellular phones are unreliable, and lost calls occur
all the time.  Most of the time, the E-911 box will not
even tell us the Cell Tower's Address (One will:
Sprint Pcs mainly)  Please, do not get mad when we 
ask these very simple questions.  We do it for a reason.
The Cell Tower's Address does not help us (at all)

Are ya surprised by these Cell Phone facts?

73 from 911 in St Louis, Missouri  Todd / n0vkg







73 from todd hartzel / n0vkg
http://www.icon-stl.net/~toddh