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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-11-10 City Council (5)TO: City of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM:CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: POLICE DATE:NOVEMBER 10, 2003 CMR:494:03 SUBJECT:IMPLEMENTATION OF WITLESS E9-1-1 SERVICES DISPATCH This is an informational report. No Council action is required. BACKGROUND In 1981, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted the first license for cellular service providers. The expense and restricted coverage areas limited use of these devices. In 1994, there were 16 million wireless phone subscribers in the United States. That number has grown to 149 million subscribers today and is expected to grow with many people opting to utilize wireless telephones to replace traditional phone service lines in their residences and businesses. The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) survey showed that approximately 30 percent of 9-1-1 calls originate from wireless telephones. NENA estimates that the majority of all 9-1-1 calls will come from a wireless phone by 2005. Since the 1980’s, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has served as the Primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) for emergency 9-1-1 calls from cellular telephones. The CHP dispatchers triage the calls, and if they require a medical, fire or law enforcement response from a local agency, the reporting party is transferred to the local dispatch center for call processing and dispatch. Callers more than likely go through the details of the call a second time with the Palo Alto dispatcher in order for the calls to be properly dispatched. Until the mid-to late 1990’s, the call volume and related workload from wireless 9-1-1 calls was manageable with existing CHP dispatch resources. With the explosion of the number of wireless users, the CHP has become increasingly overwhelmed and the expedient call processing has been replaced by busy signals, voice recordings and wait times that can reach upwards of 20-minutes during peak hours of the day. These wait times translate into significant CMR:494:03 .Page 1 of 4 degradation in the delivery of emergency services to the public, and significantly different then the level of service available through the traditional (hard-line) 9-1-1 system. For a Palo Alto resident who calls dials 9-1-1 from their traditional residential phone line, they can expect the call will be answered in less than 10 seconds while if they used their cellular phone to dial 9-1- 1, they could wait 20 minutes before even talking with a Palo Alto Public Safety Dispatcher In 2000, the State of California passed AB 1263, allowing local PSAPs for the first time the option of receiving wireless calls directly. As a result of this legislation, the State of California Department of General Services Office of 9-1-1 Emergency Communications Services has been assigned to oversee implementation of all local Wireless E9-1-1 Programs. In the Bay Area, local PSAPs have opted to approach this endeavor as part of a regional plan to ensure a smooth transition. The Palo Alto Police Department, having completed all the needed 9-1-1 and dispatch equipment upgrades, testing and training of its personnel, is prepared to begin taking these calls, and on November 11, 2003 will implement this new program. DISCUSSION The Bay Area implementation process began in December 2002. Of the 85 Bay Area PSAPs, 40 petitioned the CHP and State to handle these calls directly. Palo Alto Police staff have taken a leadership role and one of the City’s Communications Managers is the Bay Area Regional Coordinator, serving as liaison between the local PSAP, the WSPs and the State 9-1-1 Program. Although Palo Alto is approaching this effort regionally, this report focuses on the implementation strategy for Palo Alto and Stanford (as the City’s dispatch center handles law enforcement and fire dispatch under contract). Two things needed to occur before these calls could be handled locally. First, Central Phone Equipment (CPE) for 9-1-1 in Palo Alto’s Emergency Communications Center needed to be upgraded to handle the new information (latitude and longitude) and subscriber information that would be passed through on these types of devices. Because the Wireless Service Providers (WSPs) have been slow to implement the technological changes that would provide the same type of information that is currently available with the landline 9-1-1 system (i.e., address information and telephone number of the caller). The FCC imposed a mandate on the WSPs in 1994 (FCC 94-102) requiring that the subscriber telephone number for the wireless phone and information on a caller’s location be provided to PSAPs in the form of latitude/longitude. Since that time, the WSPs have sought and been granted by the FCC a number of waivers to extend the deadline to meet this mandate. Because of pressure from the public and legislators, the FCC has now given a final mandate. By 2005, all WSPs must be ready to provide this information to the PSAPs - first to provide the subscriber phone number (Phase I compliant); and by the end of CMR:494:03 Page 2 of 4 2005, the specific location of the caller using Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar time/distance type technology imbedded in wireless phones (Phase II compliant). At this time, very few Phase II GPS-enabled handsets are in circulation. The FCC mandate requires that effective, December 31, 2005, 95 percent of all the subscriber handsets in service must be Phase II compliant. Most carriers are just beginning to sell these handsets to the public. Consequently, until there is considerable turnover in handsets, Phase II GPS calls will be minimal even to those PSAPs that have the technology to accept them. Secondly, meetings took place to decide which cellular site towers would be programmed to direct the wireless 9-1-1 call directly to Palo Alto’s dispatch center and which would remain directed towards the CHP. The State has opted to leave any cellular tower sites that are in direct proximity to freeways or other routinely patrol by the CHP with their dispatch center in Vallejo. Because freeways border Palo Alto and Stanford and have limited intersection through its city streets, only 37 of the 172 cell sectors (towers) will be routed to the CHP, the remaining will be routed locally to Palo Alto’s PSAP. There are five main WSPs that provide cellular service in the Bay Area; to date only Nextel is Phase II compliant with any measure of accuracy. The Police Department conducted a thorough test of the Nextel system on August 25, 2003, validating a high degree of accuracy with the system, thereby minimizing the error rate in locating wireless callers. A patch was installed to leave this system active in Palo Alto, but rerouted to the CHP until the patch is removed on November 11, 2003 when the calls will be handled directly in Palo Alto’s dispatch center. The unknown variable in taking on this important new project is the workload impact handling these calls locally will have. Because there is limited experience in California, and the CHP has limited statistical information, staff estimates on associated workload is based on experience with the systems and national estimates which vary, showing increases in 9-1-1 call volumes between 15-40 percent, with an average increase in workload of around 25 percent. In addition, the call processing times increase with wireless calls. This is typically because the wireless callers are more likely to be witnessing or be involved in the incident they are reporting and are generally unfamiliar with their surroundings, so additional questioning by the dispatcher is required. For Palo Alto this could mean an increase of 15,000 calls per year when all the WSPs are rerouted to Palo Alto’s PSAP, and an average call processing time of 116 seconds, nearly double that of a wireline 9-1-1 call. The upside to the WSPs being slow to ready their equipment for this transition in California is the ability to transition these calls to the City PSAP a single carrier at a time. Experience with Nextel will help to determine what the impact there will be when other carriers are ready to go CMR:494:03 Page 3 of 4 online later this year. It is estimated the full transition will take the City through 2005. Very few local PSAPs will have the ability to view the caller’s location on map displays within the dispatch center. Most will barely meet the FCC mandate of December 31, 2005. Because Palo Alto has such a sophisticated GIS system and a highly skilled vendor, the City’s ability to secure additional funding from the State 9-1-1 program, to develop an interface between the City’s CAD and GIS systems, the dispatchers will be able to view the location of the caller directly on a visible map display. The initial development of the interface is complete, and when the contract is finalized later this year, this mapping system will be brought online making Palo Alto the first agency in the State of California to achieve this milestone. RESOURCE IMPACT There is no fiscal impact with the initial implementation of this service. The Police Department received $90,000 from the State 9-1-1 Program to offset one-time costs associated with this implementation (mapping development, hardware, CAD integration costs). Ongoing maintenance costs associated with the hardware is paid through the State 9-1-1 program. No additional funds are being sought at this time. Staff will monitor the increase in workload, evaluate the need for additional staffing resources and return to the City Council with the findings during the 2004-2005 budget process. PREPARED BY: DEPARTMENT HEAD: CONTOIS Technical Services Coordinator Police Chief CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: EMIL HARRISON Assistant City Manager CMR:494:03 Page 4 of 4