NG9-1-1: Why Move Forward?
In light of current economic challenges, many PSAPs and municipalities are wrestling with when to start planning for Next Generation 9-1-1. Implementing new systems is potentially costly, and justifying the expense and planning time is often difficult. Several states are currently drafting plans that will map out how to move forward, but they’re facing a tough question from skeptical customers: “What’s really in it for me?”
It’s helpful to review the components of NG9-1-1 when attempting to understand the benefits it will afford PSAPs and public safety. Often, benefits are perceived as realized and actionable only during exceptional circumstances, such as large-scale disasters. This perception can make large-scale system upgrades a tough sell. Let’s examine some components and tangible short-term benefits.
Location Pre-Validation
NG9-1-1 provides for a location validation function (LVF) that will be used to validate the location of calling devices before they initiate a 9-1-1 call. (We’ll address the technical aspects of how they do this in a later issue.) The benefit for PSAPs and public safety day to day is that more accurate locations will be available with 9-1-1 calls. Example: The current methodology of VoIP providers transmitting non-MSAG-compliant addresses has caused frustration for many centers. The NG9-1-1 LVF will help prevent inaccuracies.
Additional Data
Transmitting calls to 9-1-1 via the session initiation protocol (SIP) (see “NG9-1-1: Call Routing & Location Validation,” June 2010 PSC) over an emergency service network (ESInet) rather than traditional trunked phone lines enables numerous sources of additional data to be sent with a call. Additional data about the call, caller, location and PSAP benefits calltakers, dispatchers and responding agencies.
Vehicle telematics is probably the most widely discussed source of additional data thus far. Currently, APCO and NENA are working together to draft standards for the consistent transmission of this data and the urgency algorithm to PSAPs. When finalized, agencies will be able to easily evaluate vehicle telematics data to determine if it should affect the response to traffic-related incidents.
Vehicle telematics is only one category of additional data PSAPs can expect to receive. Although not all data will be pertinent to how a call is handled and what resources are dispatched, its availability may provide opportunities to better manage incidents and resources.
Increased PSAP interoperability
Interoperability between public safety agencies has been a focus of many discussions since 9/11. Interoperability between PSAPs, however, has not been at the forefront of such discussions, and NG9-1-1 will change all that.
Today, 9-1-1 authorities and PSAP managers have limited control on managing their incoming call volumes during busy times. Busy times are not limited to large-scale disasters; they can occur at predictable intervals during the day and week, or during transient events, such as storms and sizeable civic events. Relying on voluntary, or last minute, forced overtime to handle these situations is becoming an economic challenge and a personnel nightmare. In addition, increasing staff is only as feasible as the number of positions available for staff members to take additional calls.
NG9-1-1 will allow PSAPs to forge partnerships with neighbors, both near and far, enabling 9-1-1 call routing to be handled more creatively. With proper planning, policy rules (i.e., conditional statements that tell the system how to react to a particular situation) can be established to allow 9-1-1 calls to be automatically distributed differently should incoming call volumes (queues) exceed certain thresholds. Neighboring primary PSAPs or secondary PSAPs can be set up to automatically receive the calls that exceed another PSAP’s ability to handle them.
Standards are being developed that will make exchanging incidents between disparate call handling and dispatch systems easier to accomplish. Policy rules implemented to automatically distribute calls to other PSAPs can also be designed to automatically revert to normal routing when queues return to acceptable levels.
Virtualization
As discussed, day-to-day events can significantly affect a PSAP’s ability to manage calls. These same events can also affect the ability of PSAP personnel to come to work. A flood or severe snowstorm may last only a short time, but it can significantly hamper travel for long time periods. Although call volumes may spike during a storm and then subside, PSAPs face a greater challenge at shift change if telecommunicators can’t get to work.
ESInet’s implementation and NG9-1-1 call routing capabilities will make virtual PSAPs a reality. The ability to route calls to non-traditional locations during inclement weather or other incidents will be a viable alternative to holding 9-1-1 calls in a queue because there aren’t enough personnel to handle them.
Virtualization will provide an abundance of flexibility in 9-1-1’s future. However, the term virtual PSAP often conjures up a vision of someone answering calls in their pajamas from a crowded and distracting family room. This vision isn’t lost on those of us who dare to suggest the concept, but it takes virtualization to the extreme, which is not the intention. A virtual PSAP can be any aggregation of locations on an ESInet capable of taking 9-1-1 calls. In the above scenario, a collection of neighboring PSAPs can automatically have calls routed to them when one PSAP becomes overwhelmed. In this sense, the group of PSAPs temporarily combine to form a virtual primary PSAP.
When circumstances prevent employees from reporting to their designated PSAP or long-term situations require a creative approach to handling incoming calls, virtual PSAPs may be a viable solution. Local EOCs, fire departments, police stations or an ambulance corps may be able to offer secure areas with ESInet connectivity where additional call handling or dispatch equipment can be installed. These settings may be in locations that are more easily accessible to personnel who would normally have to travel a long distance. If planned ahead, this type of virtualization could also be used during periods of excessive call volumes when additional calltakers are needed for several days and/or weeks. PSAP managers and public safety agencies should work together to plan for these scenarios to ensure the implementation and management of virtual locations is effective and efficient.
Accessibility
For some time, the hearing- and speech-impaired communities have expressed a need to be able to seamlessly access 9-1-1. This desire has been fortified by legislation. The general public is now expressing an expectation that non-verbal communication with 9-1-1 should be made available. The question therefore is not if PSAPs should have to accommodate this technology, but rather how they will do it safely and efficiently.
The technical standards being drafted for NG9-1-1 address how multimedia will make its way to 9-1-1 centers. PSAPs and public safety officials need to address how it will be handled after it gets there. APCO staff and members are working to address the numerous operational effects multimedia will have after it’s fully integrated into 9-1-1. This is an opportunity to plan ahead. Multimedia is on its way, perhaps sooner than you think, and eventually it will be difficult, if not impossible, to avoid integrating it into daily call handling procedures.
9-1-1 officials should begin having discussions now regarding how 9-1-1 operations and training should change. Collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions may provide insight into how other PSAPs are ramping up to handle these changes. Waiting instead of planning for these inevitable changes could result in operational policies and training that ultimately don’t serve your agency as well as they could and should.
About the Author
Kathy McMahon is APCO technical services manager. Contact her via e-mail at mcmahonk@apcointl.org.
Originally published in Public Safety Communications, 76(7):23-227, July 2010.