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911 calls to be directly routed to city police

San Jose Mercury News

Monday 27 February 2006, 1:18 pm
Keywords: News Articles

By Gary Richards, Mercury News

This month Los Gatos and Menlo Park join a growing list of cities where drivers making emergency calls from local streets will have 911 calls directly routed to city police, easing the pressure on the understaffed Highway Patrol.

San Jose is on board, as are most cities in Santa Clara County and along the Peninsula. Union City and Alameda are the only two East Bay cities taking local 911 cell calls on city streets, but more hope to.

All of the major cell phone companies, with the exception of Nextel, now have the ability to route 911 calls to the closest dispatch center.

Under the new system, city police can pinpoint the general location of calls on streets within city limits. Older phone models provide a phone number, cell carrier and cell tower that is being used along with GPS coordinates of the tower. Newer cell phones with a GPS chipset beam back the same information as well as GPS coordinates of the phone in use.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/transportation/13972237.htm