By Jeff Haldiman
jhaldiman@newstribune.com
“Our motto is just like the real estate industry - location, location, location.”
That statement came from Doug Keeney, supervisor of the Jefferson City Police Department's records division, who testified Monday before the House Interim Committee to Evaluate the 911 System.
Work started in January to give operators at the Jefferson City Police Department's communications center the ability to better locate 911 calls from cell phones.
It's the last of a two-step process that was established by the Federal Communications Commission to deliver location information for wireless callers.
The first phase of the project was completed in Jefferson City in 2002. It allowed 911 operators to see the cell tower receiving the call, which sector or antenna received the signal and the caller's cell phone number.
The second phase will allow operators to get latitude and longitude coordinates of the cell phone and to translate and display that information to a digital map. This phase of the project should be completed in the next six months.
“We do get misrouted calls, usually from the St. Louis area or surrounding counties,” Keeney said. “The 911 industry didn't look outside the box on technology development so 911 is catching up.”
All 911 service is paid for by general revenue sales tax.
The county also pays a user fee.
The Jefferson City communications center dispatches all city and county law enforcement calls, as well as fire service calls.
Cole County Sheriff Greg White also testified before the committee, noting that many 911 entities have to balance funding needs between equipment upgrades and maintaining qualified personnel.
He noted the recent murder outside of St. Martins, where the alleged shooter's son called the 911 center while in his bedroom, showed that the calm and quick actions of the operators on duty made that situation as safe as possible.
White also said he would support a 75-cent fee to help pay for upgrading 911 cell phone service.
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