Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Nextel Gives Away More Cash.......

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 16:22:18 -0400

Nextel Gives Away More Cash.......
Safety on the go: Cell phones users to get 911 protection
By Lynn Burton

Post Independent Staff

The full 911 system will be extended to many
local cell phone users in the next year, thanks
to a Garfield County Emergency
Communications Authority equipment upgrade
project.

The system will enable 911 dispatchers to
locate and trace calls from new cell phones,
just like they do for land-based phones.
The authority got a big boost this week, when
the Public Safety Foundation of America
awarded it a $66,000 grant for the $260,000
upgrade project.

“I think it’s pretty likely we’ll be able to do this in a year,” said Garfield
County Emergency Communications Authority director Robert Kibler.

Kibler said the authority has money in its equipment budget for the project, and
is also looking at dipping into cash reserves and an Alpine Bank line of credit to
fund the system.  The authority operates Garfield County’s combined communications
center in Rifle, and also handles dispatch duties for police and fire agencies
throughout Garfield County.  Kibler said the new system will only work for new
cell phones, which the federal government requires to be equipped with global
positioning system (GPS) capabilities.  The authority’s communication center
instantly traces land-based 911 phone calls to their point of origin, which can
help emergency personnel respond even if the caller can’t verbally communicate, or
doesn’t know his location.

That capability doesn’t exist with cell phones. This creates problems with many
cell phone users, including tourists on Interstate 70, hunters, hikers,
snowmobilers and others who may not know their location.

Kibler said the new equipment will locate cell phone callers to within 10 meters
on dispatch center computer screens.

Kibler said the authority will use existing GPS maps from Garfield County and area
towns.  Kibler said he believes Colorado Springs is the only other Colorado town
with a GPS cell phone system in place. “It seems to be working pretty well,” he
said.  The system should work in all areas of Garfield County that have cell phone
service.  The Public Safety Foundation of America, which made the award to
Garfield County, was established by the Association of Public Safety
Communications Officials International in 2002, according to a press release.

Funding for the foundation comes from a variety of sources, including corporations
and Nextel Communications.

Contact Lynn Burton: 945-8515, ext. 534
[email-masked]

http://www.glenwoodindependent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030918/VALLEYNEWS/30917013&rs=1

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