Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/342119
27 www.officer.com July 2014 Law Enforcement Technology RADIO & DISPATCH These three harrowing stories might sound like a plot of fiction, but unfortu- nately they are not. They are very real. These, along with 197 other personal stories packed a personal punch when sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as part of a survey conducted by the Find Me 911 Coalition in the hope of affecting changes to cur- rent inaccurate wireless 911 location. 911 and the FCC The current FCC E-911 regulations, which have been in place for a number of years, include Phase I and Phase II rules. Phase I allows the PSAP to receive the physi- cal address of the cell tower the caller is attached to and the bearing of the center of the sector the caller is attached to. "The way that's thought about in public safety is that's the location of the tower, not the caller," states Trey Forgety, Director of Government Affairs, NENA. Phase II, on the other hand, gives carriers two options: Network-based technology, which is being phased out, and handset-based technology which has Global Positioning System (GPS)/Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chips inside the handset. Regulations require carriers locate a caller within 50 meters 67 percent of the time and 150 meters 90 percent of the time. The problem is these only apply to calls made from outside and horizontally, therefore leaving a majority of calls being made from inside high-rise buildings outside the rules. Take for example, a caller from the Galaxy Towers in Guttenberg, New Jersey where retail, office and 1,075 apartments incorporate three 416-foot octagon tow- ers overlooking the Hudson River, or the Queensboro Houses in Long Island City (NY) where 3,172 apartments house 6,907 people. Any densely populated area with multi-storied structures is going to face decreased 911 wireless location accuracy, and decreased accuracy means people die. In fact, the FCC estimates that 10,000 people die each year because first respond- ers cannot find them after they call 911. "There was a significant drop in the ability of PSAPs to locate people calling 911 on cell phones in the last five to six years," explains Retired Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett, Director of the Find Me 911 Coalition and former FCC Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. The drop wasn't rec- ognized at first, he explains, but now it's understood that moving to GPS-only technology, which was accurate outside, doesn't translate the same indoors. "That is why we are having such an emotional and fervent outpouring from the 911 community that says we have to have capabilities indoors, and the FCC is say- ing new rules need to be implemented." More people than ever According to the FCC, 70 percent of the 240 million calls to 911 each year come from wireless phones. The CTIA—The Wireless Association—states as of December 2012 38.2 percent of house- holds in the United States are wireless- only. This is up from 15.8 percent in 2007, indicating an increase of more than double over a five-year period. This percentage is even higher in low-income and minority neighborhoods, and continues to rise as Americans give up their land-line. "We have more people who are going to wireless only and they are inside buildings when they call us," explains Danita Crombach, CalNENA President and Retired Communications Manager with Ventura County (Calif.) Sheriff 's Office. "It's the same problem in Chicago or San Francisco or New York. Anytime you're trying to penetrate concrete it can be challenging." The trend in increased wireless users is at the heart of the cur- rent 911 location accuracy issue and behind the Find Me 911 survey. CSRIC test bed and mandate In response to concerns, the FCC began testing. In March 2013, the FCC's Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) III's Working Group 3's Indoor Location Test Bed Report came out showing there were significant issues with the GPS-only technology currently being used. The report also showed that other technologies exist that could be used individually and in tandem to improve indoor loca- 70% of the 240 million calls to 911 each year come from wireless phones LET_26-30_LeftToDie0714.indd 27 6/25/14 12:00 PM