The state will phase in a new 911 program that should eventually allow Loudon County and other emergency dispatchers in Tennessee a broader range of options to better serve their communities.
State legislators passed the 911 Funding Modernization and IP (Internet Protocol) Transition Act of 2014 in April. The bill, which will require a $1.16 surcharge from customers per month, went into effect Jan. 1.
“I think the biggest thing that will help us is that we’re guaranteed to get no less funding from the state than we did in 2012,” Jennifer Estes, E-911 executive director, said. “So, that’s the first funding law that I’m aware of that guarantees a stream of revenue. It’s hard to guarantee anything, so that’s beneficial for us so that we can budget and we know that we will not get any less than we received in 2012.”
Estes said the new law will allow for a new stream of revenue with cellphones, while previous laws focused only on landlines.
Loudon County residents previously paid $1.50 per residential line and $3 per business line.
“Obviously, anything that we can do in real time to speed the process up for emergency transmissions, you know, we’re talking about everything from accidents to fires to runaway children to any type of calamity,” state Rep. Jimmy Matlock, R-Lenoir City, said. “So I think the intent was good and the results are going to be even better.”
Matlock served as a bill cosponsor.
Some funding will go toward upkeep of what’s being referred to as the “Next Generation 911” program, which Estes said will slowly be phased into call center systems. She said Tennessee Emergency Communications Board, the group spearheading the Next Generation 911 program, has been testing the model in some jurisdictions, and she anticipates the new system will go live statewide within 18 months.
Estes said Loudon County has already made the necessary changes for the switch. However, allowing the remittances from carriers to go to the state instead of locally will “take some adjusting.”
“We really aren’t sure what kind of revenues we’re going to see until we’re into it about six months, probably,” Estes said.
The new system will allow for seamless transfers between call centers throughout the state. Estes said the current technology only allows 911 one-button transfers to surrounding counties.
“... But for example if we needed (to) transfer a call to Nashville, we could not just one-button transfer it to Nashville,” Estes said. “With the new system we would be able to do that if there was a need to, and sometimes that happens. Someone will call for here about an emergency in another jurisdiction. We already have everything in place.
“Once the state’s ready to turn that network on we’ve already done everything we need to do to be prepared for that and for picture messages and text messages and that kind of thing,” she added.
The advantages of texting 911 — something a select number call centers in the state are testing right now — will be beneficial for situations ranging from domestic disputes to burglaries, and it should help the “deaf or hearing-impaired community,” Estes said.
“Text has become just maybe one of the most popular ways of communications now and that’s what most people are comfortable with, especially if it’s a situation with speech impairment or hearing impairment that may be even more important,” Rollen ‘Buddy’ Bradshaw, Loudon County mayor, said. “But I think as the times grow we have to adapt and change with them.”
