OFFICIALS: NEW 911 SYSTEM A SUCCESS

JACKSON -- When a loved one suffers a severe injury or a sudden medical catastrophe, the thing foremost on family members' minds is the urgency of the situation.

When a 911 call is made to local authorities, it can be difficult to explain the nature of the ailment or even give law enforcement the address or directions to the home.

That is why E911 systems like the one at the Cape County Sheriff's Department is so important.

"It makes dispatching calls a lot easier -- especially in crisis situations," said Lt. Ruth Ann Dickerson of the Cape County Sheriff's Department. "It saves us a lot of time that would be spent getting a name and address of the person on the phone. We can send help just that much faster."

The only major roadblock the county has encountered in its 911 system is when area residents dial 911 from a party line.

"When we get a party line call, the screen will tell us that the address is not found," said Dickerson. "It's not a big problem, though. We just fall back on the techniques we used before we got this system, in getting the information we need from square one."

The county went on line with its E911 system in early November. On the same day, the city of Jackson began using a basic 911 system for the first time.

But to prepare the county for 911, officials launched a comprehensive readdressing campaign in rural areas.

"We're still learning the addresses," Dickerson said. "There are times when we get 911 calls -- or any call for that matter -- and have to get out the map to determine exactly where to send a deputy.

"It also helps that a majority of the rural residents have clearly marked their homes or mailboxes with their new addresses," she added.

Overall, Dickerson said, the county's 911 system is "running smoothly."

"We worked through the little glitches in the first couple of months," she said. "Now everything is working fine."

Brian Miller, who sits on the board of directors for the county's 911 project, said the hard part is yet to come.

"We're still trying to put up some of the road signs," Miller said. "We're getting people situated with their new addresses and doing all those little maintenance things that have to be done to keep the system in top form.

"We had our share of teething problems when we first started, but Motorola and Southwestern Bell have been right with us all the way, working together to iron out all the wrinkles."

One glitch came to light Feb. 28, when the entire system crashed, leaving the county without 911 services for about an hour.

The failure not only occurred in the direct 911 system, but also in a backup system designed to convert calls to the seven-digit numbers of the city police and sheriff's departments. During the time the system was down, callers to 911 got a busy signal.

"It was pretty close to a disaster because it affected everybody in the whole county," Miller said the day of the failure. "We viewed this as a most serious situation with the potential for a lot of harm."

In retrospect, Miller said the county learned a lot from the system crash.

"Believe it or not, the failure cleared up a lot of problems and opened a lot of eyes to what was happening," said Miller. "We're now taking extra steps to make sure everyone works well together so this kind of thing never happens again."

The 911 advisory board meets once or twice a month. At every meeting, the successes and failures of the system are discussed, and possible improvements are investigated, Miller said.

"Overall, we're really pleased with the system," said Miller. "I know we've unfortunately inconvenienced a couple of folks, changing their addresses around a couple of times, but everyone had been really cooperative and has worked well with us and the system."