911 Calls Answered In 3 Seconds Or Less

Despite receiving 69,400 total calls in 2011, Marinette County’s 911 Communications Center answered 95 percent of the 15,300 emergency 911 calls in three seconds or less in 2011, Communications Director Terry Zimmerman reported to Marinette County Board at their monthly meeting July 31. This is accomplished with no more than three telecommunicators on duty at a time, using nine lines. “That’s a testament to the good job our people do,” Zimmerman declared.

The Communications Center answers handles all 911 calls in the county. It serves six law enforcement agencies, 13 emergency medical services, and 18 fire departments, plus county Highway and Forestry/Parks departments, Wisconsin State Patrol and DNR warden communications.

The federally mandated radio narrowband project undertaken last year is complete, and as part of a glitch with that project there are also now all new radios for the Sheriff Department.

“Over 1,300 radios touch our system, and they can all do it on the same frequency,” Zimmerman said. Thanks to a new tower at the Marinette County Law Enforcement Center, a new microwave link and other recent improvements, Marinette and Oconto counties have radio communications systems set up so each can provide emergency backup for the other. If one county’s system fails all calls can immediately be switched to the other county, and communications with emergency services and law enforcement vehicles will continue without interruption.

Thanks to a grant received two years ago from the State of Michigan, Marinette County also has total radio interoperability with Michigan, and direct radio links with all bordering counties in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Zimmerman told of a recent high speed chase involving a motor home headed toward the Michigan border. The vehicle made it across the state line, but because of the interstate communication capability, the driver was apprehended anyway. “We used the system and it worked just the way it should work,” Zimmerman declared.

The Communications Center, in addition to Zimmerman, employs 12 full time and two part-time telecommunicators, who generally work three at a time.

They answer all 911 calls to all the emergency services in Marinette County, and are responsible for approximately 2,100 record and maintenance entries in all county, state and national data bases. These include wants, warrants, missing and endangered persons, stolen and recovered property, personal protection orders and injunctions, and whatever else may be needed. The information is not only entered, but is validated and audited routinely, Zimmerman’s report stated.

Of the total 69,400 calls the Center fielded in 2011, 15,300 were 911 calls and 15,300 were non-emergency calls on the administrative line. Cellular phones accounted for 67 percent of all calls, and Zimmerman commented that they might get as many as 15 calls from people who witness a single accident.

To a question from Supervisor Kathy Just, Zimmerman said records are kept of all numbers from which calls are received, and they can either call back or stay connected to callers.

Supervisor Al Mans commented on a newspaper article urging motorists who see someone texting and driving to call 911. “Are you all right with that?” Mans asked.

Zimmerman had mixed feelings. “If they’re driving all over the road, sure, call. It’s an emergency,” he said. “But if you’re just being the texting police, I don’t know...” He wondered how someone driving their own car could see well enough to decide if another driver was texting or not.

He said a lot of other 911 calls are not for emergencies, but from people who don’t seem to know who else to call, for example, “There’s a cat in a tree,” or “What time is the parade?”

Supervisor Joe Policello noted that people often put 911 on speed dial on their phones, and it sometimes rings inadvertently, for example when dropped or when in a pocket.

Zimmerman agreed that is a tremendous problem. People may be literally sitting on their phones while a 911 operator is trying to determine if it’s an emergency or not, and they cannot simply disregard a call on which they get no response because it may be a situation in which the caller is unable to speak.

Another huge problem that people don’t think of happens when they give their old cell phones to youngsters to play with. As long as the batteries are functioning, those phones will dial 911 even when all other service is disconnected, he said.

Often one of their nine phone trunks is tied up for more than a few minutes while one of the three operators tries to convince a child to “get mommy.” Again, they cannot simply disregard the call in case it is a genuine emergency. “Everyone should be told to take the battery out of that old cell phone before giving it to a child to play with!”

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