Next Generation 9-1-1

Delaware County Council tells state House committee it’s critical to ensure funding and technology for future of 911 system

Delaware County Council stressed its commitment to public safety, and the life-saving role of the 911 Center in people’s lives, when it testified at a hearing on the planned rewrite of Pennsylvania’s 911 statute.

The state House Committee on Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness held the first of three statewide hearings Tuesday, July 30, in the County Council meeting room of the County Government Center in Media. State Rep. Steve Barrar of Upper Chichester is the majority chairman of the committee.

“Delaware County has one of the best 911 centers in the state, if not the country, and we will not compromise our commitment to ensuring that all emergency calls in this county are handled in the most timely and effective manner,” said County Council Vice Chairman Mario J. Civera Jr. “We are ever mindful of the cost of operating our Emergency Services Center. We are also 100 percent committed to making sure that local, qualified call takers respond to our residents in any type of emergency, whether it’s a car accident, a hurricane or a large-scale disaster.”

Vice Chair Civera testified along with Councilman Dave White before the committee that is tasked with doing a comprehensive rewrite of the state’s 911 statute, first passed in 1998 and due to “sunset” in June, 2014.

Since 1998, there has been a dramatic change in the way people communicate, and the evolving technology has meant an increase in the use of cell phones and other wireless technology in reaching the 911 Center.

The current 911 system was designed to provide a universal, easy-to-remember number for people to reach police, fire or emergency medical assistance from any phone, in any location. The technology at that time was based on wired phones, or land lines, in homes and businesses.

“Today, people communicate with each other in ways we never imagined: wireless phones, text messages, smartphones, video chat and Internet Protocol (IP)-enabled devices…and I am sure there are even more modern devices on the horizon,” Civera said. “We have to ensure that we have a smooth, reliable transition to a Next Generation 911 system that accommodates all of these new technologies, and one that is both committed to public safety and cost-effective.”

Vice Chairman Civera was serving in the General Assembly in Harrisburg when the initial 911 legislation was developed in 1998. He was the prime sponsor of House Bill 911.

“It is fitting that you hold your first hearing concerning the 911 reauthorization legislation in Delaware County because we played a key role in developing that system,” Civera said. “Ed Truitt, our director of Emergency Services, played a key role then and continues to lead when it comes to emergency preparedness in the county and the Commonwealth.”

“We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of 911 calls that we handle, but we’ve also seen a dramatic increase in the county’s share of the cost of the 911 system,” Civera said. “In 1998, when we passed the first 911 legislation, 100 percent of the calls were from land lines. Today, a mere 30 percent are from land lines and 70 percent are from cell phones.”

“In Delaware County, we have a dense population, many major highways, we border two other states, and our 911 call takers handle 42 percent of all of the calls that come in for the suburban counties of southeastern Pennsylvania,” Civera said. “I want to stress to this committee that we will never do anything that compromises the integrity of our 911 system. We want every Delaware County resident to know that when they have an emergency, they will get the best, fastest, most experienced help on the other end of their phone, or whatever device they are using to call.”

In 2012, Delaware County’s call takers handled more than 1.2 million calls to 911.

County Councilman Dave White said that the rewrite of the state’s 911 legislation is an opportune time to ensure sufficient funding now and for the future.

“The initial approach of having 911 services funded by fees on land lines is no longer sufficient. We need new funding mechanisms that are technology-neutral, that take into account all of these new devices that can access 911, and that produce funds that are dedicated to sustaining our 911 systems into the future,” Councilman White said. “911 upgrades should be a priority for state funding and the legislation should reflect the dire importance of this lifeline for our residents.”

Councilman White testified to the committee that Delaware County would like to see several factors addressed by the new legislation.

• Fees need to be technology-neutral and be assessed on any communication device that can access 911.

• All collected funds should be preserved for the 911 system and not diverted to other purposes.

• There needs to be transparency regarding the generation and distribution of 911 funding at the state level.

• Staffing of each 911 center needs to ensure local knowledge and expertise for each county.

“Our 911 staff is made up of local people with local knowledge of our roads, geography, police departments and fire companies, and that local expertise has been the difference between life and death in dispatching emergency help,” White said.

• A baseline funding system needs to take into account the unique needs of each of the 67 counties.

“We have many factors in Delaware County that make a difference in the large volume of calls we respond to. We have major interstates such as I-95 and I-476 that handle tens of thousands of vehicles 24 hours a day; three-quarters of Philadelphia International Airport is in Delaware County; the proximity to Philadelphia means we have urban crime issues; and we have major energy, port and manufacturing facilities that pose unique threats whether it’s an industrial accident or incident of terrorism.”

Councilman White also stressed the need to expect the unexpected, in both technology and emergency services. He noted that it is important for counties to have a reliable sense of revenue for their 911 systems so they can budget responsibly and be able to fund upgrades necessary to maintain the sophisticated, state-of-the-art system that Delaware County has in place for its residents.