The Federal Communications Commission unveiled last week a plan to retool the nation's emergency response system to allow for alerts in more forms than the traditional 911 phone call. Most notably, the upgraded system would have the capacity to receive text messages.
The FCC's vision, named "Next-Generation 911," helps meet the challenges posed by a shifting emphasis on mobile devices. With the new system, users would be able to contact 911 via text and media messages sent from cell phones in an effort to give users safer methods of contacting emergency services.
In a press release announcing the changes, the FCC identified the Virginia Tech campus shootings in 2007 as an instance when the program could have saved dozens of lives.
"During the ... shooting, students and witnesses desperately tried to send texts to 911 that local dispatchers never received," the press release stated. "If these messages had gone through, first responders may have arrived on the scene faster with firsthand intelligence about the life-threatening situation that was unfolding."
Michael Mulhare, director of Emergency Management at Virginia Tech, welcomes the changes.
"[Text messaging] is how we communicate as a society now," Mulhare said. "It gives another channel for students and the community to contact their 911 center" in addition to the university's current multi-channel alert system including e-mail and message board notifications in classrooms.
University Police Lt. Melissa Fielding said she supported any measure that improves the quality of services provided but recognized that any new innovation must be carefully evaluated.
"From a police perspective, the sooner we receive reports and information, the better the response we can provide. But while these technologies provide advantages, there are disadvantages, as well," Fielding said.
One possible disadvantage is the potential for lost information, said Thomas Hanson, executive director of the Charlottesville-UVA-Albermarle County Emergency Communications Center.
"You actually do lose something when a verbal conversation isn't taking place," Hanson said. "When a communications operator is able to listen to things in the background, pick up things that are going on in addition to the conversation, a lot more valuable information can be gained."
Nevertheless, Hanson, Fielding and others such as Kirby Felts, the University's assistant director of Emergency Preparedness, are optimistic about using new technologies both during emergencies and to help alert students and citizens before they become entangled in an emergency.
"We've had a lot of conversations recently with students about how to work more with the social media pieces, and that's an area that everyone in emergency preparedness is looking at. We're working out ways for students to friend U.Va. on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, and receive updates that way," Felts said. "We're constantly looking at new technologies and assessing how they can be a part of the U.Va. alert system."
For now, Next-Generation 911 remains "an evolving technology," Hanson said, and although "everyone's kind of waiting to see how it's going to work out," he predicted that in the next three or four years, it will come to fruition.
Read More
U.Va. researchers identify that HIV drugs can protect against Alzheimer’s disease
By Lauren Seeliger | 2 days agoDoctor Jayakrishna Ambati and his research team have begun work on a new drug called K9 which could treat and prevent Alzheimer’s.
Graduating students share their future plans as they enter the job market
By Nina Broderick | 3 days agoMany students find the Career Center to be a valuable tool during the job search and application process.
U.Va.’s Finals Weekend spotlights the achievement and service of the Class of 2025
By Leigh Bailey | 5 days agoIn University President Jim Ryan’s welcome address, he acknowledged the support of family members and friends present in the audience and beyond that played supportive roles in these graduates’ lives.
