Dispatchers say 911 remains best option as more applications offer SOS services

Several applications are available for emergency situations, but local dispatchers say they aren’t always the best options.

“It’s a real interesting time in 911, right now,” said Scott Calderwood, the deputy director for the El Paso County 911 district. “We are transitioning off a lot of the legacy systems that we relied on for many years and we are going to new internet protocol technologies, and with that, comes a bunch of new applications.”

Apple and Android phones offer SOS services on the devices. The service allows users to plug in phone numbers of emergency contacts, as well as the local emergency number, which will be called when the application is in use.

Although the system appears to be simple with a touch of a button, officials with 911 dispatch say it’s not the best method to get help.

“If you pick up and dial 911, you will always get through to a dispatcher and get the help you need,” Calderwood said. “It’s always a better idea to pick up the phone and call.”

One flaw in the application, according to officials within the district, is that if you cannot speak to the operator, you will not get the help you need.

“It’s important to understand that getting ahold of an operator by voice will always be faster and more desirable,” Calderwood said.

In El Paso, the 911 district processes several million calls a year, which averages to about 1,500 calls a day. According to officials, in 2017 89.9 percent of 911 calls were answered within 15 seconds. The response time for first responders was 8 minutes and 30 seconds or less, 89.9 percent of the time.

“There are several applications out there that promise to deliver a 911 services, but we cant recommend one over the other and several of those don’t work,” Calderwood said.

A flaw in some of the systems is location.

When you call 911 on a cell phone, dispatch receives the tower location and within seconds, they receive an estimate of the address.

“Some of the apps claim to improve on (location services) and some of them may be able to, but it would be best to get ahold of a dispatcher to ascertain that information,” Calderwood said.

With the technological advances continuing, the district says they are working to get ahead of the curve by building the New Generation 911 System. “We will be able to take advantage of new technologies and be able to take things besides just voice calls and we might be able to take data, text, or pictures at some point,” Calderwood said.