Cuyahoga County is working on a 911 system upgrade that will help dispatchers find a caller’s location more precisely. 

President Joe Biden signed a spending bill last month that included $2 million in funding for Cuyahoga County’s 911 system upgrade. But changes will likely take a few years and cost closer to $8 million, said Brandy Carney, director of Public Safety and Justice Services of Cuyahoga County. 

Additional funding for the upgrade will come from the county and from the state’s cellphone surcharge fees, which were recently increased from 25 cents to 40 cents, Carney said.

The upgrades will move the county to a computer-based system, where an IP (Internet Protocol) address is used to find a more exact location of where a call is coming from, she said. An IP address is a string of numbers that identifies a device on a network.

Jessica Merkosky, dispatch supervisor for Chagrin Valley Dispatch, said getting an exact address when the caller doesn’t provide it is their biggest struggle. 

“People calling from their cell phones will just automatically assume that we know where they are. And we don’t,” she said.

New 911 system will give dispatchers more information

The current system uses cell towers, and sometimes cell phones, to provide the location of a caller. But those locations can sometimes be inaccurate, Carney said. 

The new system allows for more data input, including video of the scene that helps dispatchers and first responders get more information, she said. The current system does allow people to text 911. 

The new system can also get information from other databases, like alarm systems or GIS (geographic information system) mapping data, Carney said. These databases can give dispatchers and first responders information like which floor of a building to go to or on which side of the building they will find the person who needs help. 

“So the accuracy there literally could save lives,” Carney said. “Just because otherwise they can go floor by floor trying to find people if something happened, for example.”

The upgrade is in line with a statewide move to a Next Generation 911 system. Ohio is testing out a Next Generation system in six smaller counties. The state’s goal is to certify the system by the end of the year, Carney said. The state will then have five years to get all other counties in Ohio on the newer system.

Depending on the state’s timeline, Cuyahoga County will either upgrade to the Next Generation 911 system on its own and then tie into the state’s system or do it all at once if they’re next in line for the state, Carney said.

Reducing dispatch centers

Cuyahoga County’s emergency dispatch center is in the basement of a University Hospitals building in Bedford. There, about five dispatchers take calls and almost immediately transfer them to one of the county’s 21 city or regional dispatch centers, depending on where the caller is reporting an emergency. 

The county has 20 full-time employees at the center, with some vacant positions. A fully staffed center would have 27 dispatchers, Carney said. 

In the same room, just past a short hallway, Chagrin Valley Dispatch, one of the county’s 21 centers, has a slightly bigger room with more stations where dispatchers take calls from 17 cities in the eastern suburbs. 

Each dispatcher faces at least five screens, which record calls coming in, addresses, maps to help the dispatcher get the necessary information and send the appropriate first response team – fire, EMS or police, or a combination of those. 

The county used to have 48 dispatch centers, but around 2010, the county encouraged smaller cities to merge their emergency communications centers, sometimes offering financial incentives. 

The county wants to continue consolidating as they tie into the state system. The goal is to have about five regional centers around the county, Carney said.