‘Next generation 9-1-1’ system to cost Stafford over $800K, includes texting option

The Stafford County Sheriff’s Department will be getting a new 9-1-1 emergency calling system that will cost $807, 540, to serve more than 136,000 Stafford County residents.

According to Carol Adams, ECC Director at the Stafford Sheriff’s Department, the changes are necessary, as the current emergency calling system has become obsolete.

“The current system that we’re using was installed in the mid-90s, and it was upgraded about eight years ago when we moved into this [current] building. But it has reached its end of life and is no longer supported by the vendor. So we were in a position where we had to go and look for something else,” Adams said.

The large cost was approved by the Stafford Board of Supervisors. The project is being funded through a $150,000 grant, the Sheriff’s 2015 maintenance budget and partial 2014 funds that were held when the project first began moving forward, according to the Board of Supervisors agenda.

“The cost comes from the system itself, and what we’ve been trying to do throughout the entire requests for proposals and procurement process is to make sure that the system we do put in place will meet not just the current needs of Stafford County – but the future needs as technology changes,” said Adams.

Robert Weaver, a PSC Supervisor for the Manassas City Police Department, stated that the cost for an emergency calling system of that size was appropriate for the figure allocated for Stafford’s upcoming system.

“For the City of Manassas – we’re a five station answering system – and for us to get what we needed to get, we’re talking about almost $500,000,” Weaver said.

One thing that the Sheriff’s Department is looking for, according to Adams, is a new system that will be able to integrate with upcoming technology for future 9-1-1 calling – being termed ‘next generation 9-1-1’.

“… eventually [you’ll] be able to text to 9-1-1 as well as send pictures, send video and real time events as they’re happening into 9-1-1,” said Adams, continuing, “That technology is a ways off.”

But one thing that residents in Stafford may be able to see in the near future is the advent of text to 9-1-1. This will allow residents in need to submit a text message to 9-1-1, versus a voice call.

“We’re always going to look for people to make that voice call before they make that text call because there’s information we can glean from a voice call. But there are people within the community that will definitely benefit – the deaf and hard of hearing, those that are in domestic situations that can’t talk to us – so those are two communities right off the bat that will see benefit from text to 9-1-1,” said Adams.

While the text to 9-1-1 features won’t be available immediately – even with Stafford’s new emergency calling system – the system will have features that will help dispatchers work more effectively.

“The system that we’re looking at does have an integrated map with it that does allow a dispatcher to be able to see clusters of calls, and be able to prioritize sometimes how they answer those calls,” commented Adams.

Since the Board of Supervisors has already approved the funding for the project, the Sheriff’s Department is moving ahead. They will be able to select a vendor for the project contract as soon as the Stafford County Administrator signs off on it.

Adams expects that the new system will be operational and in use by June of this year.