New software helps police find cell-phone users

Andrew Edwards

The Laguna Beach Police Department recently installed new software

designed to enable dispatchers to pinpoint emergency calls made using

cell phones.

Currently, when a person dials 911 from a land line, a local

dispatcher is able to trace the caller’s location and direct police

or firefighters to the caller’s address. But when a person in Laguna

Beach makes a 911 call from a cell phone, not only do Laguna

dispatchers not have the person’s location, they are not the first

people to pick up the phone. California Highway Patrol dispatchers

take all cell-phone calls in Orange County.

But local and state officials working on the initiative, dubbed

the Wireless E911 Project, hope Laguna dispatchers answer Laguna

calls in 2005, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Louise Callus said.

The software, Vesta 911, is designed to be so precise that

dispatchers will be able to get nearly exact locations of callers

using GPS-equipped phones. The installation was completed on June 24.

“Give us our wireless 911 calls, our response time’s going to be a

lot faster,” she said.

The state gave Laguna police the money to buy the software, and

the department had enough left over to purchase ergonomic furniture

for its dispatchers, Callus said.

Statewide, the total cost of the project is about $110 million.

That money is being raised by the 911 surcharge Californians shell

out when they pay their phone bill, said Barry Hemphill, deputy

director of telecommunications in the state Department of General

Services. The department is the state agency that oversees

California’s 911 program.

In Orange County, the local efforts to get the program in place

are headed by Lt. Colin Murphy of the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department. He said a task force is working with the major cell-phone

companies to sort through the thousands of cell-phone antennae in

Orange County, and trying to figure out which city should get the

call from each antenna.

Some parts of California are already underway on the project. In

Los Angeles and the Bay Area, public safety agencies started

implementing the program in 2003. A Department of General Services

chart dated June 4 shows that in the Los Angeles area, 18 local

police departments are taking wireless 911 calls.

“We determined to start with the heavy population areas where most

people would be served,” Hemphill said.

Though it is still too early to tell how well the system is

working, Highway Patrol dispatchers are able to take more calls and

get more information, since other cities are reducing their workload

and have a better idea of where a caller is, said Thomas Prigatano,

Highway Patrol communications supervisor for Los Angeles.

“Service to the public is improving,” he said.