The region is getting a new 911 that, for the first time, will know exactly where you are

STAFFORD — The technology that supports the region’s 911 system is more than 50 years old.

It’s based on copper wire technology, the stuff that for years — just as the telegraph of the 19th century did — has carried telephone calls across wires to old landline phones.

Fast forward to 2018 and cell phones have replaced landlines, and about 80 percent of the calls that come into the Stafford County emergency communications call center are placed on mobile phones.

This year, the county will join others in Northern Virginia, like Fairfax and Prince William, and will become some of the first in the state to upgrade to “Next Generation 911.”

The new system will be on the new digital Emergency Service Services Protocol Network (ESInet). It will, when implemented in the fall, give call takers immediate information about where the caller is located.

“That’s a big misconception people have when they call 911, is that we know where they’re calling from,” said Capt. Ray Davis, who oversees operations at Stafford’s emergency call center. “Right now, we rely on cell tower data to tell us where callers are.”

When a cell phone is used to call to 911, operators ping the closest cell phone tower to the caller. Some callers in Stafford who live along the Potomac River may get an emergency operator in Charles County, Md. when they dial 911.

“The call can go to a tower right across the river, so that’s why the first thing we ask the caller is ‘where is your emergency’ so that we know where to get help,” added Davis.

In addition to providing a better location data, callers will be able to send text messages, photos, and video to 911 operators. That will help call takers do their jobs more efficiently when it comes to getting proper descriptions of vehicles, and emergency scenes.

“Sometimes we get calls from people who say their neighbor’s house is fully engulfed in flames, and we get there, and it’s a grill being used on in the yard,” said Davis.

The changeover to the ESInet system is expected to take about a week and should take place between September and October.

Fairfax County applied for and won a state grant from Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) for about a quarter of a million dollars to implement the new technology. Some of the cost of installation and first-year operation — about $55,000 — would be covered by the grant.

Taxpayers will also pay more when it comes to the annual contract and maintenance costs for ESInet. It’s estimated Stafford County taxpayers will pay $109,000 per year than it does with its current system.

County officials say a change in the way 911 tax monies are distributed to counties in Virginia should be enough to cover the annual costs.

Localities in the National Capital Region, to include Manassas, Manassas Park, Loudoun in Virginia, Montgomery and Prince Georges counties in Maryland, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will all switch this year.

Other localities, like Fredericksburg, will have to wait.