What Is 9-1-1?

Quick response is critical when you need emergency help. Enhanced 9-1-1 service is an advanced telecommunications system designed to gather necessary information and dispatch emergency services as quickly as possible. Here's how it works in our community. All calls to 9-1-1 are answered 24 hours a day by screeners at the Dothan Police Department. The attendant's computer screen automatically displays the telephone number and the location where the call originates. At the same time, the screen displays a listing of the police, fire, and medical agencies serving that location.

How Efficient Is 9-1-1?

When you need help in a hurry, 9-1-1 is easy to remember and fast to dial. Even if a caller is unable to speak or hangs up, help can be sent. For this reason, it is important that everyone in your household know when to call 9-1-1 for emergency assistance.

When Do I Use 9-1-1?

Call 9-1-1 whenever you feel you have emergency need of the police, fire, or ambulance services.

How Do I Use 9-1-1?

• Try to stay calm and speak clearly. Ask for Police, Fire or Ambulance.

• Describe the emergency and answer all questions.

• Stay on the line until you are instructed to hang up. Although the screen automatically displays the telephone number and location, the attendant may ask you to verify the information.

9-1-1 service is available toll-free from any rotary, push-button, residence, business, or public pay telephone in the Dothan/Houston County area.

History of 911
In order to fully understand and appreciate any effort to implement a countywide emergency telephone system, it is necessary to understand the background of 9-1-1 in the United States and to obtain a basic overview of how 9-1-1 works.

Nine-one-one is the number that has been designated for reporting an emergency and requesting emergency assistance in many communities in the United States. Many have modified their existing emergency systems to accommodate the number. Nine-one-one is thus intended as a public service with the objective of preserving life and property. Ideally, this means that nearly every American citizen and visitor to the country who has access to a telephone could summon aid by dialing this simple number, regardless of location, familiarity with an area, time of day, or type of emergency.

Of course, such an ideal situation does not exist at this time. Rather, in keeping with the belief that local governments should bear responsibility for determining and responding to their own emergency needs, the philosophy has traditionally been to make it available to any community or municipality electing to install it. It is hoped, however, that the value and benefits of a single emergency telephone number will receive sufficient recognition across the country to bring about the nationwide implementation of 9-1-1.

The concept of a common emergency telephone number is not new. It had been discussed in this country for some time before it became operational in 1958. Similar systems have been in service in several European countries for many years.

How Did The Idea Develop? Origin Of Concept Was In Europe.
Great Britain was the first country to establish a universal emergency telephone number. Since 1937, any individual in the United Kingdom has been able to dial 999, receive a prompt response, and have his or her request for assistance (police, fire, ambulance) quickly answered and directed to the proper agency. In developing similar systems, Belgium has adopted 900 as its uniform emergency number. Denmark provided 000, and in Sweden the caller dials 80 000. Several of these systems are directed primarily toward the provision of emergency services. Other countries which have provided three or two-digit emergency numbers, either universally or for large populations, include West Germany, Caracas, Venezuela, which developed its system in 1963 with the help of the United States, and Winnepeg where the system has been in service since 1959. Canada is currently developing a national system utilizing 9-1-1 and Japan has 1-1-9 throughout their country.

Although the selection of the particular agency to act as the answering center may differ from country to country or within a community, the concept of a single number received at a central reporting agency has been well accepted and has proven in practice to be an effective component of the total emergency response mechanism in these countries.

Introduction In The United States
In January of 1968, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company announced that within its serving areas the digits 9-1-1 would be used for installation on a national scale as the single emergency telephone number. Although numerous public safety officials and individuals at various government organizational levels had long expressed keen interest in the establishment of such a number, AT&T was primarily prompted by the 1967 recommendation of The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration that "wherever practical a single (police emergency ) number should be established at least within a metropolitan area and preferably throughout the United States".

Further stimulus toward the creation of a nationwide number was provided by the Commission on Civil Disorders and the Federal Communication Commission which urged the telephone industry to provide a three-digit emergency telephone number. These recommendations had in turn received impetus from growing public concern over the increase in crimes, accidents, and medical emergencies and from Federal Government awareness that current emergency reporting methods were inadequate and that in a population as mobile as ours, a common emergency number made sense.

In response to these concerns, the Federal Government in March of 1973, through the Office of Telecommunications Policy, issued National Policy Bulletin Number 73-1 endorsing the concept of 9-1-1 and urging its nationwide implementation.

The choice of the specific number 9-1-1 was based primarily on cost factors, the comparative ease with which telephone companies could be modified to accept the number and on other considerations which indicated that the combination of the digits 9-1-1 was remembered and dialed by most persons.