Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: gmp@rayssd.ssd.ray.com (Gregory M. Paris) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: In Defense of 911 Service Message-ID: <10248@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 30 Jul 90 15:35:09 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Greg Paris Organization: Raytheon Submarine Signal Division Lines: 16 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 530, Message 4 of 11 Just to relate a single incident where E911 seemed to work nicely: My wife (fiancee at the time) dialed 911 in Providence, RI. I got the impression that as soon as she said she wanted police, patrol cars were dispatched -- before the specifics of the problem were determined by the 911 operator. In fact, my wife was getting anxious answering the questions of the operator, yet four Providence Police cars containing eight officers surrounded the house just ten seconds after she hung up the phone. Total response time was less than one minute. I do not believe that the response could have been as quick if the call had been made to the police number; the "extended" aspect of the 911 service seemed to save quite a bit of time. Greg Paris {uiucdcs,uunet}!rayssd!gmp