NEWS
State to upgrade 911 response
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Also by Ann Babe:
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- Doyle signs bill redefining abuse law (February 17, 2006)
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by Ann Babe
Friday, November 18, 2005
The state is planning to put $29 million toward updating its emergency-response systems, heightening technology across Wisconsin in order to keep up with its citizens' escalating cell-phone use.
Gov. Jim Doyle announced the $29 million grant Wednesday, which will be distributed among counties statewide for the implementation of emergency services supportive of an increasingly wireless society.
Currently emergency personnel, though able to trace the location of landline callers, are without the technology to provide the same service for cell phone users.
"9-1-1 dispatchers will be able to find the exact location [of wireless callers] through GPS technology, allowing emergency services to act more efficiently," Doyle spokesperson Anne Lupardus said.
The grant program was passed as a bill by the state Legislature and signed into law by Doyle in 2004, after which Wisconsin counties were eligible to apply for the program. Following the review of these applications, the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, an independent state agency, determined the amounts awarded to each applicant.
Funding ranged from Milwaukee County's request of more than $4 million to Jackson County's $50,000 grant. Dane County is to receive nearly $1.2 million to implement improved emergency services.
Variations in amounts awarded depended in part on the size and population of each county, with larger areas such as metropolitan Milwaukee requiring more funding to install the technology.
Grants are expected to be used to update emergency services by covering the expenses of mapping information, computer-aided dispatch equipment and technology training.
Additionally, the state's nine major wireless providers have been awarded a total of $47 million in order to coordinate their systems with those of the state's emergency services.
"The providers also need to implement this technology to make it work," PSC spokesperson Linda Barth said, adding wireless providers also went through a grant request process similar to the one applied to the counties.
Barth said grants are to be funded by surcharges attached to cell phone users' monthly statement which will "sunset in three years" after the updated emergency service systems are running and fully functional.
Surcharges, though currently undetermined, are expected to be between 75 and 85 cents per month per cell phone user.
Only cell phone users will be charged the three-year monthly fee, ensuring landline callers will not be billed for a service they do not use.
Other states that have implemented parallel grant programs to update emergency services use similar methods of collecting surcharges, but without the sunset provision. Instead, monthly fees are enacted without an expiration date.
"We've done it, I think, a little bit more efficiently," Barth said, adding Wisconsin's initial assessment of costs before implementation allowed a sunset date to be put in place.
Though cell phone users' bills will be very marginally increased, authorities assert the benefits far outweigh the costs.
"I think this is a huge step towards increasing safety for the state because more and more calls are from wireless phones," Barth said.
Lupardus also pointed to the added security of GPS tracking for callers who are caught in a remote rural area or are too injured to communicate their surroundings.
"The grant will really improve public safety throughout Wisconsin," Lupardus said. "It will really add to the peace of mind of parents and adults and children and anyone who uses a cell phone."
