Officials in Napa, California are planning to take steps to enhance its 911 dispatch center so that emergency calls from cellphones will go straight to responders.
As the linked story outlines, the current system has a cellphone call routed to a Bay Area dispatch center run by the California Highway Patrol (CHP), which then has to inform the Napa City dispatch center. Of course, as one would surmise, this routing process can lead to delays and, as we well know, every second is important in an emergency.
It's obvious that municipalities like Napa have to find ways to improve their 911 emergency response centers in order to field calls from cellphones. Room has to be made in city budgets, and people may have to be hired as well. In any case, since we are a more mobile society, our emergency services have to keep pace.
