911 PLANNING: PANEL TO VIEW WASHINGTON SYSTEM

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- A committee investigating the possibility of a 911 emergency system for Cape Girardeau County will be touring the communications center in Washington, Mo. today.

An upgraded 911 system went on line in Washington in July 1990.

A six-member committee from Cape Girardeau County will develop recommendations on equipment and financing of a 911 system. The committee is visiting various cities throughout the state with enhanced 911 systems.

Cape Girardeau has a 911 system, but City Manager J. Ronald Fischer has said the city hopes to upgrade it. The city of Jackson has been studying a 911 system, and it has been discussed for the out-county area for several years.

The committee will meet with Carol Sexton, director of Communications for Washington, today.

Sexton directs a communication center for the fire, police, ambulance and city government in Washington.

In a telephone interview, Sexton said: "Everything I have heard about the system is always positive. People don't really realize what it can do until they have to use it.

"I talked to someone who had called in that her husband fell and broke his arm. She said, `It felt so good that you already knew where I was and that help was going to be on the way.'"

The 911 system offers several service options, each with a letter designation. Cape Girardeau city currently has the C-system, which locks on the phone line to allow a phone trace. The rest of the country is not served by 911.

The D-system displays the caller's phone number, and the E-system displays the caller's name, phone number and address.

Washington changed from the C-system to the E-system.

Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. Carl Kinnison, a member of the committee, said the local group has not made a decision on which system the county needs or how the system would be funded.

"We're still investigating all possibilities," he said.

Serving on the committee are Brian Miller, emergency coordinator for Cape County; Leonard Hines, chief deputy; Kinnison; Juanita Henley, communications manager of the Cape Police Department; Randy Welker, assistant fire chief in Jackson; and Sgt. Richard Knaup, of the Jackson Police Department.

The Washington area initially got a 911 system in 1980. Sexton explained, "It was a C-system which locked in the phone number but doesn't display it. We received the system in bits and pieces from old systems other communities didn't want.

"The problem we ran into was that as the system got older and began to break down, they didn't make replacement parts."

Sexton said the system could have been funded, with voter approval, by a user-fee on phone bills.

"But at the same time, we were going to the voters with a capitol improvement sales tax," she said. "We decided to group the 911 system with the other items."

Voters in Washington approved a half-cent sales tax to fund the capital improvements, including the new 911 system.

Legislation is also in place to allow a political subdivision (a city or county) to ask voters to put a 911 user fee on their basic telephone bill. Most 911 systems are funded this way, said Craig Felzien, community relations manager for Southwestern Bell.

But the city or county may choose any method of funding the system. "Some counties include the cost in their budget," Felzien said.

When Washington's sales tax was being proposed, the city was considering the D-system, which displays the telephone number of the caller.

"At that time it ran about $25,000 to $30,000 for initial installation," Sexton said. "The E-system, at that time was about $125,000, and that was out of our price range."

While waiting for the tax vote, Sexton said, Southwestern Bell restructured its 911 rates. "The E-system was about $55,000 for initial installation. We decided to go with the E-system."

The E-system displays the name, phone number and address of the caller.

"The E-system is wonderful," Sexton said. "I worked with the D-system in St. Louis County. The E-system is so much better. It displays the phone number, name and address of the caller and also automatically prints it.

"A lot of times people who call 911 are upset and scared," Sexton said. "In one instance we had a two-year-old fall out of a second-floor window onto a concrete patio. The father called and he was very upset and was shouting. He hung up prior to giving us his address.

"He might have waited a long time to call back if he thought an ambulance was on the way," she explained. "But we knew where he had called from."

She said also when people are upset, they also have trouble remembering pertinent information. "That happens more often than you would think. With this system we can ask is your address 15 Tonya Lane? Is this your name? All they have to do is verify it. They don't have to remember."

In other cases, she said, people don't know the exact address they are calling from. "If you go to a neighbor's house or a relative's house to check on them, you might not know the exact address," Sexton said. "When you call, we know the address."

The Washington system became operational in July 1990.

"We were kind of experimental for Southwestern Bell," Sexton said. "We were the first E-system in a rural area."

The Washington 911 system covers 64-square miles which includes the city of Washington and part of Franklin county.

"When your have rural areas, you also have rural routes. And that doesn't really tell where anyone is," Sexton said.

The system is programmed to give some information about the location of a home. "In addition to the name and telephone number, it will tell us `off Highway 100,'" she said.

Franklin County also has a fire-number system. Each home has a number which gives specific information about its location.

The fire numbers are indexed in a personal computer. "When we know the name and a general location, we can call up the information on the PC and find the house."

"Of course this is in the event we can't talk to the person."

She said the system also cuts down on crank calls to the system.

"With the C- and D-systems, the phone numbers don't lock in until you pick up the phone. But with the E-system, as soon as it hits Southwestern Bell, before it ever rings and even if the person hangs up, we've still got it locked in."

But she said the real benefit of the 911 system is the time it saves.

"When we had to have calls traced, with the C-system, it could take 15 to 20 minutes. If you are having a heart attack or are choking, you're dead."

"A few extra minutes can really be the difference between life and death."