Montco Marks 20 Years of 9-1-1 Service

Montgomery County officially launched its 9-1-1 emergency phone service on June 28, 1993 — 20 years ago.

Prior to 9-1-1, residents had to choose from 88 different 7-digit numbers depending on where they were and whether they needed fire, police, or ambulance. 

The county’s emergency communications center had been dispatching most, but not all, local emergency response units for years leading up the new system.

Over the past two decades, the county has worked to improve the system, from the equipment and procedures used, to the extensive and ongoing training of personnel.

Under normal operations, shifts of 25 telecommunicators work 24/7 to get residents and visitors the help they need. They use a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system to handle 2,100 calls a day, on average.  During Superstorm Sandy, the county used training equipment and a backup 9-1-1 Center to put 57 telecommunicators to work answering 1,000 calls an hour at the height of the storm.

 The county has had Enhanced 9-1-1 from the outset, which immediately identifies the address from where calls coming from a landline are made. Now, nearly 75 percent of all incoming calls now are from cellular phones. Technology upgrades have enabled the county to narrow down the location of most cell phone callers to within 300 meters.

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Information courtesy of Montgomery County Department of Public Safety