ARLINGTON, Texas —
If you’re calling 911, you’re probably not having the best day. There’s a good chance you won’t be thinking clearly.
So, help yourself now, before you need help.
“Most of our calls, we have no idea where they are calling from,” said Sha Curtis, Arlington Interim Communications Manager.
Our vision’s been clouded by television dramas. Once upon a time, dispatchers knew where you were calling from. That was back in the days of the landline. Now, the line’s been cut.
“They believe, just based on television, that their address is just automatically populated when they deal 911. That’s not the case,” said Curtis.
In Arlington, 78% of calls to dispactch come from cell phones. When a cell phone call comes in, the system estimates the caller’s location. That estimation could be within a few meters or a few miles.
“What we get is an estimated number of meters that we use to convert. It’s never an address. So, we have to work to get the address,” said Curtis.
If you hang up without giving a location, dispatch has to track you down. First the dispatcher will call you back. If there’s no response, he/she will call you cellular provider. That could result in an address, but not necessarily where you called from.
A new smartphone app, Securafone, may help. You can program in phone numbers and email addresses for emergency contacts, like friends and family members. You can also program in 911 as a emergency call number. So, if you’re stranded, you can call all of your emergency contacts at once.
Whoever you put in as a contact will get an alert, along with a GPS location of where the alert came from. They’ll know exactly where you are and where you’re going.
Only problem is, dispatch won’t get the GPS location, but whoever does can call in to assist the dispatcher.
“It goes to a Google map and it shows exactly where it was. Now, he has an option whether he should call her directly and ask her to verify if she’s having an emergency or he can go right to Arlington PD and say, ‘my sister just sent me an alert and she’s on main and first,’” explained Robert Tomlinson, Director of Sales for Securatrac.
While the system isn’t fool-proof, in an emergency, every little bit can help.