MFR E9-1-1 OVERVIEW
August 19, 2011
The Middle Flint Regional E9-1-1 Authority was
created in July 2003 for the purpose of providing enhanced 9-1-1
service to seven counties in central and west central Georgia. The
counties of Dooly, Macon, Marion, Schley, Sumter, Taylor and Webster
entered into an intergovernmental agreement forming the 9-1-1
Authority and appointing a Board of Directors to oversee the
creation of a regional 9-1-1 center. The board of directors is
comprised of representatives from each of the counties. They are
appointed by the counties’ board of commissioners and serve a term
of three years. All those appointed to the board serve voluntarily
and are not compensated for their service. An eighth county, Talbot
County has recently been accepted into the region and will begin
enhanced 9-1-1 service by the end of the year.
Prior to the
creation of the regional 9-1-1 authority, no single county in the
area could feasibly afford its own 9-1-1 center. Several years prior
to 2003, Sumter, Macon, Dooly and other counties had conducted
studies to investigate the possibility of enhanced 9-1-1 service in
their respective communities. They invariably all came to the
conclusion that they lacked the necessary financial resources to
develop and maintain an enhanced 9-1-1 system. In February 2001, the
Middle Flint Regional Development Center hosted a regional meeting
of officials who were interested in investigating the development of
a multi-county E9-1-1 system. The results of that meeting (and many
more to follow) led to the creation of the Middle Flint Regional
E9-1-1 Authority. After the signing of the intergovernmental
agreements in July 2003, work was begun in earnest on the creation
of the 9-1-1 center. A site was chosen in Ellaville, GA which proved
to be centrally located for all seven counties and by April 2005 the
first 9-1-1 calls were being received at the new facility. By
September 2005, all seven counties in the region were receiving
enhanced 9-1-1 service.
With the
addition of Talbot County, Middle Flint Regional E9-1-1 serves eight
counties covering a geographical area of approx. 2800 square miles
and a population of 94,800 (2010 census). Collectively there are 21
law enforcement agencies, 41 fire departments (95% volunteers) and
eight EMS agencies. Our staff answers all 9-1-1 calls for the area
and dispatches to each of the agencies in all eight counties. In
2010 the center answered 84,500 9-1-1 calls resulting in approx.
60,000 dispatched incidents. Approximately 65% of all 9-1-1 calls
are received via cell phone and that figure will continue to
increase each year. Enhanced 9-1-1 indicates the ability to be able
to locate the caller during an emergency. When we receive a call on
a land line (wired), the telephone company displays the name and
address of the caller’s account to our dispatchers on their computer
screen.
When we receive
a 9-1-1 call via cell phone, we have the ability to locate the cell
phone caller on our mapping system by locating the signal from the
phone company. With the appropriate software we can “zoom in” on a
caller’s location on our map to determine where to dispatch the
appropriate agency. Cell phone location is not always 100% accurate.
Factors such as distance from the cell tower, signal strength and
whether or not the caller is in a moving vehicle all play a part in
accurate location.
The staff at the
Center consists of 24 dispatchers, a director, an operations
manager, a full-time accounting clerk and part-time financial
assistant. The dispatch staff is divided into four shifts with six
per shift. The shifts are comprised of a shift supervisor, a senior
operator and four communications officers. The shift supervisor
manages the work force and assigns the call taking and dispatch
functions. Everyone on shift is a “call taker” and a dispatcher,
including the shift supervisor. The shifts work 6 a.m. – 6 p.m., two
days on, three days off, two on and two off on a rotating basis.
Every three months the day shift goes to nights and the night shift
to days. Every employee performing dispatch functions must become
POST (Peace Officer Standards & Training) certified, pass a 40 hour
Basic Communications Officer Training course at the Georgia Public
Safety Training Center in Forsyth, certify with GCIC (GA Crime
Information Center), receive certification in Emergency Medical
Dispatch (EMD) and qualify in Red Cross basic aid training along
with Security & Integrity training. Each employee hired is required
to complete the majority of the above tasks within the first six
months of training. Other certifications and specialized training
along with public safety continuing education is made available to
the dispatch staff during their tenure at the 9-1-1 Center.
Funding for the
operation of the Center is accomplished through the collection of
9-1-1 telephone surcharge fees and contributions from each of the
counties in the region. All telephone companies serving customers in
the region collect a monthly fee of $1.50 per month per phone line
(wired, wireless and VOIP). By Georgia law, these fees are forwarded
to the 9-1-1 Center and are used for keeping the Center up to date
and functioning properly. The collection of the surcharge fees
accounts for approximately 85% of the operations budget for the
center. The counties in the region contribute the other 15% of the
budget on a pro-rata share determined by the revenue collections in
each county which reflects the amount of traffic handled by the
center. The per capita cost for running our regional E9-1-1 Center
is approx. $20 as compared to a statewide average of $35 per person.
Middle Flint
Regional E9-1-1 is the largest regional 9-1-1 Center in the state of
Georgia. Other centers serve larger populations, but none are as
large in terms of area or number of agencies served. The existence
and functioning of this Center is a testament to all those
individuals who worked together throughout the region to make this a
reality and to insure that enhanced 9-1-1 would be available to all
its citizens.
Clayton Freeman
Director