NCJ Number
172565
Date Published
1996
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study develops a strategic plan for the future of wireless emergency calls for police service in California, so as to ensure the effectiveness of mobile 9-1-1.
Abstract
The advent of mobile personal communications services (PCS) is expected to make portable "phones" even more accessible to far greater numbers of people than is already the case with cellular phones. Evidence of a developing revolution in wireless communications has been emerging for several years. This occasioned the creation of a panel of representatives from law enforcement, the fire and emergency medical response communities, and individuals involved in policy analysis/administration to identify relevant trends and possible events, as well as provide input regarding trend analysis and probabilities of occurrence for selected events. Trend and event information generated by the panel used 1996 as a base year and provided projections to the year 2004. An early step in the research efforts was formulation of the following question: What will be the impact of wireless communications on law enforcement handling of emergency calls for service in large metropolitan areas of California by the year 2004? Sub-issues were the agency that should be the primary service answering point (PSAP) for wireless emergency calls, the impact on communications resources and/or procedures of law enforcement agencies, and the impact on field patrol resources and/or procedures of those agencies physically responding to emergency calls. The selected strategy is to have the California Highway Patrol be the PSAP, while engaging in a partnership with the wireless industry. Such a partnership has the potential to provide technological improvements and perhaps direct economic support to deal with workload and call-transfer concerns. This report discusses the implementation of the strategy. 19 notes