[November 22, 2009] Fayetteville's 911 equipment outdated Tweet Nov 22, 2009 (The Fayetteville Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The 911 call that came from the home of Billy Maxwell Jr. on Nov. 2 was short and mysterious. Someone can be heard moaning, followed by popping noises before the line went dead. A 911 call taker tried to return the call. Sixteen minutes later, she left a message. To that point, the call taker followed proper protocol. And then something went wrong. After 20 minutes, city policy requires the call taker to have a dispatcher send police to the location or to notify a field supervisor. That never happened. Police still won't say why it took an hour and 15 minutes for an officer to be sent to Maxwell's home the night he shot and killed his wife, Kathy, and their two teenage children before turning the gun on himself. Twenty-one days after the carnage, police say they are still investigating the 911 call. That call has led to serious questions about shortcomings in the city's emergency operations center, which saw its last major upgrade in 1999. On June 25 of that year, officials threw the switch on a new, $1.2 million 911 dispatch system only to find that it didn't work properly. Police Capt. Brad Chandler, director of the 911 center since July 2007, said the city has had to add equipment piecemeal to keep the system working properly. "At times, it's been a nightmare," Chandler said. "There is nothing broke right now. It's a bare-bones system, and that's the problem. It's technologically lacking, but it's working." Those problems are expected to be fixed by mid-February, when the city begins using a new, $3.2million computer-assisted dispatch system. But that doesn't explain why the city for years has been using outdated and underperforming equipment that is routinely called on in life-threatening emergencies. The city's equipment is so outdated that it doesn't even have the capability to automatically map the location of an incoming call. Richard Taylor, executive director of the North Carolina 911 Board, seemed perplexed when told that a city the size of Fayetteville didn't have automatic mapping capability. Taylor said only three or four of the 129 emergency call centers in the state don't have the equipment. "The whole reason you have the 911 fee in North Carolina is for every 911 center to have funding to buy the latest and greatest technology," Taylor said. City Manager Dale Iman disputed that Fayetteville doesn't have the capability to automatically map wireless 911 calls. Chandler confirmed that the city does not have the equipment. Mapping systems automatically and instantaneously provide dispatchers with an almost exact location of where a 911 call was placed, even if the call came from a cellular phone. The city refused a reporter's request to sit inside its 911 center to see how it functioned, saying the center has limited access. Cumberland County officials readily agreed to the same request. At the county center Thursday, someone using a cell phone reported that a teenager had been thrown from a vehicle. The county's mapping equipment pinpointed the call's origin to Maxwell and Clinton roads west of Stedman. The teen didn't appear to be seriously hurt, but the dispatcher sent a rescue unit as a precaution. If that same call had gone to the city's 911 center, and the caller couldn't give his location, a dispatcher would have had to map it manually, using GPS coordinates that are captured when the call is placed. City dispatchers could also have chosen to send the call to the county, where it would have been mapped and routed back to the city. County officials say that happens occasionally. Either method could cost precious seconds in an extreme emergency, such as a stroke or a heart attack. "The mapping is the most effective and efficient method to be able to locate a caller," said Taylor, the 911 Board director. More than half of all 911 calls are now made from cell phones, and the number is growing. Taylor said 17 percent of homeowners in North Carolina have discontinued the use of home phones. Dropped calls The mapping equipment would have made no difference in the Maxwells' case. That 911 call was placed from a home phone, which automatically provided city dispatchers with an address. But the call raises another issue: How the city responds to 911 wireless calls that have been cut off. The county's policy dictates that dispatchers send a sheriff's deputy to all 911 calls, regardless of whether the call has been dropped. The city's policy for dropped or "abandoned" 911 calls requires a call taker to place a return call. If no answer is received -- or the person doesn't call back -- the call is recorded as a low-level priority 4. Within 20minutes, a dispatcher is expected to either send a police officer or notify the field supervisor. Chandler acknowledged that, while some dispatchers follow the policy to the letter, others don't always send an officer to a dropped call if nobody talks and there is no indication of a problem. Chandler said that's not unusual. Emergency call centers for Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Charlotte and Raleigh do not send officers to abandoned calls that don't appear to pose an emergency, he said. Policies for some 911 centers don't even require a call back when a call is dropped, he said. It is unclear why Fayetteville's 911 communications equipment is outdated. For years, North Carolina residents have paid a surcharge -- now 70 cents a month per cell phone or home phone line -- to help pay for 911 equipment. The money is collected by the 911 Board, which then disburses it to the 911 call centers. On June 30, the 911 Board was holding nearly $554,000 of the city's money. Taylor questioned why the city hadn't used money from the 911 Board years ago to purchase a new mapping system or a new computer-assisted dispatch system. The city would have been eligible to use surcharge money to buy the equipment, he said. "I can't imagine anybody in this day and time not having a good CAD (computer-assisted dispatch) system in place," Taylor said. "Certainly the funding has been made available to do that." Lisa Smith, the city's finance director, said at least one request to buy a new dispatch system has been made within the last five years. The request was rejected. "As with every budget and capital planning process," Smith said in an e-mail, "the city must consider all of its operational and capital needs and choices must be made." The 911 Board this year made sizeable grants available to 911 centers that needed extra money for equipment, Taylor said. Fayetteville did not apply. Chandler said it would not have been prudent to seek about $100,000 in grant money to buy mapping equipment this year because the city is buying a new dispatch system that will include that feature. At the end of 2007 -- when the 911 Board began collecting surcharges for both home phones and cell phones -- it allowed local governments to put any unspent money into their general funds to spend as they please. Fayetteville officials say the city received more than $3.1 million back then. Smith said about $2.8 million of it is being used to buy the new computer-assisted dispatch system and a records management system, as well as to upgrade radios and other emergency communications equipment. In all, Smith said, the city expects to soon spend $9.9million on new emergency communications equipment and upgrades. The 911 Board is providing more than $778,000 toward the 911 equipment, according to a document from the city. Chandler said the issue of having poor 911 equipment will become moot in February, when the city's new system becomes operational. Iman, the city manager, said the first time the Police Department asked him to replace 911 equipment was during the 2008 budget cycle. He said money for the equipment was designated that same year. The county is also upgrading its equipment, going to the same system that the city is getting. The two new systems will be able to communicate with each other. The sheriff's dispatch center and emergency communications will move into the same room, providing for increased efficiency, said Kenny Currie, head of emergency operations for the county. The two centers are now across a hallway from each other. Currie said he expects the county's new emergency operations center to be operating early next year. Meanwhile, a safety task force plans to recommend that the city and county merge into one 911 call center. Currie said the merger is at least two years away. Chandler praised his workers at the city's 911 center, saying they do an outstanding job in a tough environment. Currie said he and Chandler have been working to make significant and substantial changes to both 911 centers, as well as toward the common goal of a merged center. "We've been working diligently in the last couple of years to enhance just not communications but public safety in general," Currie said. Staff writer Greg Barnes can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3525. To see more of The Fayetteville Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.fayettevillenc.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, The Fayetteville Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 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