das@cs.ucla.edu (David A Smallberg) (01/22/91)
Apparently, not everyone knows that the 911 operator knows where
you're calling from: a man in Calabasas (southwest San Fernando
Valley, Los Angeles) phoned 911 to warn of a bomb on a flight 750 to
the Middle East (there's no such flight on any airline from the L.A.
area, as it turns out). He called from a private home, and was still
there when the police arrived! I wonder what percentage of the
population does not know how much the 911 operator knows.
For that matter, in areas where Caller ID has been available for a
while, have there been any surveys of how many people ignored all the
advertising and are still unaware that the number they're calling from
is available to the callee? How long will it take for this knowledge
to spread to, say, 95% of the people?
I suppose this is similar to the time when automatic exchanges started
appearing. How long did it take for 95% of the population in those
areas to realize that you could call someone without their being able
to readily check where you're calling from, since there was no
operator to ask?
David Smallberg, das@cs.ucla.edu, ...!{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!cs.ucla.edu!das
[Moderator's Note: When 911 service first started here in Chicago many
years ago, replacing POLice 5 1313 and FIRe 7 1313 as the emergency
numbers, considerable publicity was given to the fact that the
dispatchers would know who you were and where you were calling from. A
suit by the ACLU to stop 911 service here (as an invasion of the
privacy of the caller to the police) failed, and in the process, the
publicity went on for so long you'd have thought *everyone* would know
... yet on opening day a mousy little man turned in a phalse alarm
and when the police knocked on his door he was surprised, to say the
least. In court, he wrung his hands and said he didn't know those
calls could be 'traced' ... "well you do now," bellowed the judge as
he handed him a $500 fine. 911 here has cut phalse fire and police
calls down to almost nothing. Prior to 911 firemen were getting a
couple dozen 'mistaken citizen trying to help' (their euphemism) calls
daily. Despite the extensive PR, most folks do not know about Caller
ID yet or 'call screening', the service I find very useful. PAT]PMW1@psuvm.psu.edu (Peter M. Weiss) (01/23/91)
In article <16299@accuvax.nwu.edu>, das@cs.ucla.edu (David A. Smallberg) says: >Apparently, not everyone knows that the 911 operator knows where >you're calling from: a man in Calabasas (southwest San Fernando >Valley, Los Angeles) phoned 911 to warn of a bomb on a flight 750 to >the Middle East (there's no such flight on any airline from the L.A. >area, as it turns out). (deleted for brevity.) Isn't the system you're describing denoted as 'E911'? It is _my_ understanding the we have plain old 911 i.e., no location database in the 814-86x and 814-23x (central PA) exchanges. Peter M. Weiss | pmw1 @ PSUADMIN | vm.psu.edu | psuvm 31 Shields Bldg - PennState Univ.| not affiliated with VM.PSU.EDU | PSUVM University Park, PA USA 16802
ellisond@uunet.uu.net (Dell H. Ellison) (01/24/91)
In article <16299@accuvax.nwu.edu>, das@cs.ucla.edu (David A. Smallberg) writes: > Apparently, not everyone knows that the 911 operator knows where > you're calling from: a man in Calabasas (southwest San Fernando > Valley, Los Angeles) phoned 911 to warn of a bomb on a flight 750 to ... > there when the police arrived! I wonder what percentage of the > population does not know how much the 911 operator knows. > [Moderator's Note: When 911 service first started here in Chicago many ... > suit by the ACLU to stop 911 service here (as an invasion of the > privacy of the caller to the police) failed, and in the process, the ... > daily. Despite the extensive PR, most folks do not know about Caller > ID yet or 'call screening', the service I find very useful. PAT] Actually, I find it very interesting that most people don't know that there are two flavors of "911" service: 1. 911 (basic) service provides a central location where all emergency calls (dialing `911') are sent where they are answered and the necessary organization is notified (e.g. police dept., fire dept., etc...). The callers phone number and address are NOT known. 2. E911 (Extended 911) service is essentially the same thing, except the operator IS provided information about where the call is coming from. As a side note, in the Chicago suburb where I live, I don't have any 911 service, yet I am charged $0.75 on every phone bill for that service. I guess they have to get enough money before they can install it. (Which should be just about the time that I move away.) To the Moderator: By the way, how wide spread is Caller ID available in the Chicago suburbs? I would be very interested in getting it. I think it would be great! [Moderator's Note: Our 911 service here was the 'E' version almost from the beginning, back in the mid-1970's. A state law here requires all communities to have 911 service but many of the suburbs do not have it because they share phone exchanges in common with other small suburbs and few of them can agree on *which* suburb (on the same exchange) should handle the incoming call. None of them want some other suburb exercising any control over their police, etc. We had a very crude version of '911' for thirty years before calling it such. Under the old system, 'POLice 5-1313' was translated by each CO into some other number and then forwarded to the police, who received the call on (various)-1313; i.e. Wabash 2-1313, Haymarket 1-1313, and a dozen others. A big wall map had minature lights which would flash off and on showing the CO placing the call to give the police a good idea where to start looking for the victim/criminal, etc. As for Caller*ID in northern Illinois: there is no such animal, yet. 'They' say it would be violate the privacy rights of callers. Area 312/708 is about 75% fully CLASS equipped at this point; more COs are coming on line almost daily. Caller*ID is there, but not being offered at present. IBT/GTE/Centel have filed tariffs but expect it to be several months before approval is granted. PAT]
svec@uunet.uu.net (Larry Svec) (01/25/91)
My town (Wauconda, IL) has 911. It shares the same dispatch with a number of surrounding towns. When you call 911, they use the national police point to point frequency of 155.37 Mhz to relay to the proper local town or if it is unincorporated area (such as where I live), they call the Lake County PD. Typical scenario ... I once called 911 for a car fire, then heard the same person that answered the phone call Wauconda Township Fire on their point to point 155.37. Wauconda FD dispatched on their frequencies of 153.89. The 911 dispatcher called Lake County PD also on 155.37 about it. Lake County PD dispatched on their 155.655 repeater. My conclusion is based on extensive 'scanner' monitoring ... some of the towns in the US with 911 serving a few towns seem to then further dispatch to the proper town via the 155.37 point to point frequencies. Larry Svec - KD9OF home: 708-526-1256 e-mail: uunet!motcid!svecl VHF: 145.150- work: 708-632-5259 fax: 708-632-2413, -3741 UHF: 443.575+ [Moderator's Note: I frequently scan the twenty or so frequencies of the Chicago PD. (460.050 --> 460.600 megs). The suburbs which touch the city seem to monitor the city frequency for the area bordering them, while maintaining their own frequencies, usually at 470 megs. The suburbs which touch us all have their own 911, except I think Lincolnwood shares with Skokie. It is not uncommon to hear the Evanston dispatcher come on 460.375 (Chicago Districts 20 / 24) with a message saying the Evanston PD is on a chase and asking Chicago to help, or vice-versa. For fires, when Chicago Emergency answers, the default is the PD, but the dispatcher merely tap a button on the console and the call is patched right over to Fire in a matter of two seconds or less. PAT]