Twice in recent months, emergency medical assistance in Utah County has been delayed due to a lack of technology that would enable emergency dispatchers to locate people who place 911 calls from cell phones.
In October, the lack of technology and a spate of errors on the part of dispatchers resulted in emergency crews being unable to locate a 30-year-old Provo man who was in distress. Four days after his 911 call, police found Scott Aston's body after opening his locked apartment.
Earlier this week, 911 response was likewise muddled by confusion and communication problems. In this instance, a cell phone call to assist a construction worker who was injured when a 17-foot wall fell on him at Traverse Mountain subdivision in Lehi was received by the Salt Lake County dispatchers. Salt Lake County fire officials surmise the call went to Salt Lake because of the location of the cell tower that relayed the call. But the matter was further complicated because the 911 caller did not give emergency dispatchers an address. He referred to the location as Traverse Ridge, where there are many construction projects on both sides of the Utah and Salt Lake county line. The Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communication Center dispatched two Unified Fire Authority crews and a heavy equipment rescue crew. Dispatchers also contacted the Utah County Sheriff's dispatch center, which notified the Lehi Fire Department, which was first on the scene. Fire officials believe there was no delay in response time in spite of the communication problems.
Although both of these incidents were complicated by human error —- the former on the part of dispatchers and the latter on the part of the emergency caller — it is abundantly clear that Utah County law enforcers desperately need global positioning satellite technology to pinpoint the location of 911 callers using cell phones. It strains the imagination why, after Aston's tragic death, that the purchase and installation of this technology has not yet been accomplished five months later.
In the post-Sept. 11 world, with local police and fire agencies considered the first responders to acts of terrorism, it is of paramount importance that dispatch centers are able to send emergency personnel to these incidents with a high degree of confidence that help goes precisely where it is needed as soon as humanly possible. Precious lives hang in the balance.