A Florida county leads the way with a high-tech 911 system that improves emergency response

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NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — When an emergency happens in Collier County, Florida, the 911 calls go to one of the most high-tech communications centers in the U.S., where callers can sent text and video from the scene to dispatchers.

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Moving to what’s known as an NG911 — or Next Generation 911 _ system is a journey Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and Bob Finney, the county’s director of communication, have been on for much of the past decade.

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It’s a long way from Feb. 16, 1968, when Alabama’s then-House Speaker Rankin Fite made the nation’s very first 911 call in Haleyville, Alabama, on a bright red, rotary-style landline telephone. That ceremonial call came just 35 days after AT&T announced plans to use 911 as a nationwide emergency number.

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Today, most calls to 911 originate with cellphones, with dispatchers in upgraded centers using geo tracking to get accurate geographic locations from callers.

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But the response time in an emergency depends on the type of technology being used at any of the 6,000 emergency communications centers in the U.S. that receive 911 calls. There is no uniform emergency system in the U.S., so individual cities, counties, states or geographic regions are responsible for operating their own 911 call centers.

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While some states have fully updated to NG911 systems, others are still using legacy 911 systems that rely on antiquated equipment.

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“We’re just reminded in these last two weeks, with the flooding in Texas, just how important the work of 911 is,” said Michael Martin, CEO of RapidSOS, which provides infrastructure that passes critical data to emergency centers across the United States.

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The future is now for 911

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The Collier County Sheriff’s Office covers 911 calls from an area of about 2,030 square miles (5,258 square kilometers) that stretches from sandy beaches at the southernmost tip of the Gulf Coast on Florida’s peninsula inland to the Everglades.

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It’s a region that has been ravaged by hurricanes this century, including Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricanes Ian and Milton most recently.

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That’s why Sheriff Rambosk wanted a high-tech emergency operations center.

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“We just believe that when we can reduce the response time using technology, it will improve safety and survivability of those calling in,” said Rambosk, who has been sheriff since 2009. “And that’s really what we’re all about, keeping people safe and rescuing them when they need it.”

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Today 61 full-time employees and three part-timers staff two emergency operations centers around the clock.

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They rely on data that RapidSOS collects from connected buildings, devices, vehicles and even smart watches to send first responders to emergency scenes. The baseline data is provide free of charge to all 911 centers, Martin said.

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Mixing technology with emergency response

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As Hurricane Helene was tracking toward north Florida last September, forecasters were predicting it could hit Tallahassee as a major Category 3 storm. Officials in Leon County, which serves the state’s Capitol and nearby counties on legacy 911 equipment, reached out to Collier County, some 430 miles (692 kilometers) to the southeast, to see if they could take over emergency calls if the storm knocked their center out.