Despite previous attacks against Dane County’s emergency response center’s management following a local homicide two years ago, the center is receiving national recognition for raising the bar for technology, training and response time to 911 calls in recent years.

The Dane County 911 Center earned the Center for Excellence accreditation from the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch, a nationally recognized honor achieved by only 2 percent of all 911 centers nationwide, according to a statement from County Executive Kathleen Falk’s office.

Dane County is the first 911 center in Wisconsin to accomplish the accreditation, John Dejung, Dane County director of public safety, said. The nearest accredited center is at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

The honor comes just three years after the murder of University of Wisconsin student Brittany Zimmerman in April 2008. Madison Police claimed a 911 call had been placed from Zimmermann’s phone at the time of her murder, though the response center later came under scrutiny for failing to properly respond to the call.

The Public Safety Communications Director at the time, Joe Norwick, said the 911 Center received the call but did not hear anyone on the other end, so the dispatcher took another call.

Rich McVicar, Public Safety communications technology manager, said the accreditation was a chance for the 911 Center to demonstrate its commitment to safety to the county following a period of uncertainty.

“The accreditation is about proving to an outside party that we’re doing things really well,” McVicar said. “It’s more than just us saying we’re doing a good job.”

Falk said in the statement the accreditation shows citizens of Dane County that they have a dependable 911 system.

Dejung said the Public Safety Service chose to undergo the accreditation process to give peace of mind to Dane County residents about their emergency response team.

“It validates the fact that we’ve got a 911 center that the taxpayers can trust in and be confident in,” Dejung said. “They can know that we’re in fact not just trying to do our level best, but we’re making strides to continuously improve.”

The process for accreditation includes a 20-point list of criteria, which features proper training and certification of emergency medical dispatchers, among other quality assurance protocols, Dejung said.

He added the protocols need to be adhered to for a minimum of six months in order to achieve the recognition.

The 911 Center is also exploring new technologies in emergency response, such as a new computer-aided dispatch program. The center also recently underwent renovation in order to improve the building and services offered.

The computer system allows non-emergency calls to be filtered through a computer interface, allowing callers to get answers without tying up human dispatchers in case of emergency calls.

“We’ve taken steps to make sure that those calls don’t unduly distract dispatchers from taking the 911 calls,” Dejung said. “The presumption is if the person takes the time to look up that non-emergency number, they don’t have an emergency.”

The statement added the Dane County 911 Center is the only in Wisconsin to use priority medical, fire and police dispatch computer systems in order to filter 911 calls so callers can receive the appropriate help most easily.