APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Thanks to a federal grant, the 911 Communications Center in Outagamie County will be getting an upgrade.
The grant is for all of Wisconsin to update their emergency call centers.
GPS tracking lets your phone know where you are at nearly all times.
But, when you call 911, dispatchers don’t know where you are unless you tell them.
NextGeneration 911 will change that across Wisconsin.
“We’ll have the option to get the physical GPS location of your phone the way Uber does,” Staff Sergeant Erik Nielson from the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Office said.
With the new system, dispatch will be able to follow a caller’s location, even if they’re on the move.
NextGen 911 will also let the public send pictures and video to 911.
“It opens up the realm of multimedia for 911. So in the emergency, you don’t have to tell us what color the house is. You just take a video of the house and you can send that to us,” Nielson said.
The capability to send in photos and videos does pose one disadvantage.
If people send in a shaky video or blurry photos, the dispatch center might not get the information that they need.
The NextGen 911 system also makes sure dispatch doesn’t miss anything if it’s being overwhelmed by calls.
“It is mapping those 911 calls so you can see what’s coming from that area. So the person that has a heart attack in another part of the county isn’t going to be missed,” Nielson said.
Outagamie 911 hopes to be using the new system by 2022.
“As long as the state keeps on track with their timeline, we’ll be able to keep on track with our timeline,” Nielson said.
Wisconsin is one of 34 states to receive the federal grant.
Currently, no counties in the state have Next Generation 911 in place, but they are starting to get equipment.
