County Upgrades to Next-Gen 911 System

The Cape May County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has become the first in our region to implement a next-generation 911 emergency telephone response service. Implementation of the new RapidSOS NG911 Clearinghouse Program allows the Cape May County Dispatch Center to pinpoint the actual location of a 911 cellular call to within 150 feet of the caller, instead of to the nearest cellular phone tower, according to a county press release. “This next-gen ability will improve response time to actual locations of emergencies by first responders, and potentially save lives,” said Cape May County Emergency Management Director Martin Pagliughi. He continued, “The ability to conduct wireless accuracy mapping provides a quicker, more efficient response when a 911 call is placed through the county dispatch center.” Life-saving data from millions of devices is integrated into Cape May County’s 911 system, providing invaluable information seamlessly to county dispatchers. There have been several instances where phone calls were placed via the 911 system where the location provided electronically is to the nearest cell tower, and not an actual physical location. This additional accuracy is essential in many emergencies, including those involving maritime rescues or when a caller is not able to actually speak into the cell phone. The OEM has added this next-gen accuracy program through its Motorola 911 call works equipment; the dispatch center also accepts emergency text messages. “We are proud to lead the way in next-generation 911 technology advancements,” said Cape May County Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton. “This is another attractive reason for municipalities to consider the move to central dispatch as we can offer a parallel data path for location data from popular mobile devices.” The RapidSOS NG911 Program is a centralized and secure location information server that supports a variety of devices and applications. The system will greatly pinpoint the origin of the phone call regardless of whether the caller is stationary, running, driving, or boating.