Technology developments promise a new generation of 911 service, but political leaders are hesitant to talk about the potential it holds for consolidating Summit County’s 14 dispatch centers to save money and improve service.County Executive Russ Pry is organizing a meeting Tuesday for mayors, township trustees and police and fire chiefs to discuss what changes the high-tech equipment could bring.Topics will include consolidated dispatching centers for Norton and Copley Township and for Stow, Tallmadge and Mogadore, but Pry’s chief of staff, Jason Dodson, said no one is being pushed toward further combinations.“Our hope on this is that bringing people in to talk about the potential cost, what the future regulations could bring and what the ordinary operating costs will be, that they will start coming to their own conclusions instead of us saying, ‘Hey, you have to
consolidate,’ ” Dodson said.Lynne Feller, chairwoman of the state 911 council and a 911 adviser in Wayne County, will attend the meeting at Todaro’s Party Center to explain potential features of the new Internet Protocol (IP) technology. They include:• The ability to receive text messages, video and pictures. “Public education is going to be a big issue with this,” Feller said. “If you can call, call. We’d rather talk. But if you are in a situation where you can’t talk, a hostage situation, you are in a situation where you think somebody is in your home, you don’t want to make noise, you can text.”• Locating cell-phone callers. “Wireless brought in this whole new world where callers are not in a fixed location,” she said. “Their calls are not relegated to existing geographic boundaries. If you are on a cell phone and driving up [state Route] 21, you are straddling two, three or four counties as you drive up 21, and if you make a 911 call, it is going to go somewhere, but it might not go to the right ‘somewhere.’ ” The new technology will help locate and track that caller.• Sharing information between departments. “I’m going to tread very lightly on the whole, big ‘consolidation’ word,” Feller said. “It allows for virtual consolidation scenarios where one center is overwhelmed by calls for whatever reason or it’s blown off the map by a tornado. ... Next Gen 911 allows for a seamless placement of that call into a place that is still alive, that is still a functional center.”Feller said the National Emergency Number Association has tried to set a standard, but it is not universally accepted. Governments, including Ohio, have not declared one technology must be used and is not likely to, she said.Break headCost also is undetermined.“Can’t even begin to put a number on it,” Feller said. “The small pieces that are being encouraged at this point are local issues, but at some point, it will expand into a regional or a statewide network, and how that’s going to happen has not been defined. How much it will cost is not even on the radar right now.”She said change will come in small steps.Cost savings are an incentive to consolidate, but many local authorities feel more comfortable when the dispatcher is located in their community.“That’s part of the break between the professionals in the field and the elected officials,” Dodson said. “I don’t mean it in a negative way toward the elected officials, but I think there is a significant number that don’t understand the technical ways these things work and are structured and how they can be set to have dispatch still effectively work without it actually located in your jurisdiction.”The motivation to save money will prevail, he said.“I think what is going to be the impetus for the consolidation is really the lack of money,” Dodson said.Break headGinger Hatfield, dispatch supervisor in Stow, thinks the public will demand the benefits of technology.“I think public perception is going to force it,” she said. “There aren’t any laws out there that say you have to have this right now. But how many people think they can text 911 in this day and age with all the texting and all the kids with that being their main form of communication?” she said.Dave Scott can be reached at 330-996-3577 or davescott@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter at davescottofakro.