Emergency response harder with cell calls

More than two years ago a Southeast Missouri State University student called 911 from her cell phone. She told dispatchers she had run her car off the road and was trapped inside.

The caller had no idea where she was and could only tell the dispatcher the car was stuck near a river or creek with trees around.

Lacking more specific information, Cape Girardeau police fanned out to creekbeds. The search went on for hours.

Fortunately, the injuries the student sustained from the crash were not serious and she was able to free herself from a ditch on Bertling Road near Old Sprigg Street without further problems.

"In this case it was not life-threatening, but if it had been, we would have no way to respond to the call," said Mark Hasheider, a firefighter and member of Cape Girardeau's 911 Advisory Board.

That's because unlike land lines, 911 calls from cell phones cannot be automatically traced in Cape Girardeau County.

As it stands now, when a caller using a cell phone calls for help, dispatchers must rely on the caller to provide pertinent information.

Other cities have triangulation technology that can locate callers within a few feet, but locally there is not enough money in the budget for what would likely be $15,000 to $30,000 annual cost in an approximately $400,000 budget.

"We need help, and we need it in the form of a funding mechanism," Hasheider said.

"Everybody expects it to be there. They expect for us to have that information when they call."

But that's not the case; in fact, funding for 911 call centers is steadily decreasing.

"Something is going to have to be done. Missouri is now the only state left without a provision to get money from 911 calls off of cell phones. We only get the tax from land lines," said Kim Conway, communications supervisor for the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"And as everybody is getting rid of their land-line phones, that becomes harder and harder to do."

Emergency call centers in Cape Girardeau County are funded primarily through a tax on land lines amounting to around 70 cents monthly.

Although cell phone users account for one-third of all 911 calls in Cape Girardeau and half the 911 calls in Cape Girardeau County, they pay nothing for the service.

"People have been trying to fix this and complaining for years now, but it's difficult. Legislators don't want to hear the word tax," said David Hitt, director of emergency operations for Cape Girardeau County.

The revenue funding the three 911 call centers in Cape Girardeau County drops by $8,000 to $16,000 per year, Hitt said.

Even as they're benefiting from the situation, cell phone owners may still not be thrilled with their access to emergency service.

Cellular calls are automatically routed to the nearest tower owned by the provider. If that call is for 911, then it is redirected to the closest emergency call center to that tower.

But if towers are overloaded with traffic, those calls are bounced to other towers, often out of the county.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245