Reach Me at Home: Alexandria, VA Pioneers Remote 9-1-1 Call-Taking

The city of Alexandria (Va.) has successfully deployed home-based 9-1-1 services during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it the first jurisdiction in the United States to do so. This innovative move permits the city to seamlessly maintain 9-1-1 services while ensuring the health and availability of its public safety telecommunicators during the crisis, no matter where they may be.

“Alexandria is proud to be the first in the nation to introduce this innovative technology solution,” says City Manager Mark Jinks. “Not only has developing an at-home capability for 9-1-1 staff helped them to continue their lifesaving services during these unprecedented times, it also provides a replicable model for governments and other organizations to follow.”

Home-based telecommunicators have been supplementing staff at the city Department of Emergency and Customer Communications’ emergency communications center (ECC), a second team at a backup location, and employees working remotely in other offices or hotels.

How At-Home 9-1-1 Works

Alexandria’s ability to support remote 9-1-1 during COVID-19 was a fortunate coincidence. 

“The previous director of our Department of Emergency and Customer Communications (DECC) purchased a Motorola VESTA system that included some remote phone boxes that could support remote 9-1-1, including at home,” says current DECC Director Renee Gordon. “We upgraded our phone system back in December 2019 to be able to use them, but it wasn’t until COVID-19 hit that we began to test the home-based capability.”

As configured by the DECC, the remote 9-1-1 system software is loaded into a laptop computer. It is bolstered by two standalone screens, a separate keyboard, and a direct connection to AT&T’s FirstNet first responder broadband network. Add a telephone headset, and the public safety telecommunicator can answer calls as quickly and professionally at home—or anywhere else—as they can at the ECC. (It helps that the remotely located telecommunicators have access to the city’s computer-aided dispatch system, just as if they were physically sitting in the ECC.)

DECC began testing its remote answering solution using nonemergency calls in March. After a monthlong run with no serious issues, the city expanded the remote system to include 9-1-1 calls. 

To ensure maximum reliability and security, all at-home DECC 9-1-1 calls are routed through FirstNet 5G wireless hotspots rather than the telecommunicators’ home Internet services. And despite working at home, everyone on this system can comply with the same strict confidentiality and quality assurance standards used at the city’s ECC.

A Positive Experience

The DECC’s remote 9-1-1 system has been performing well for the city of Alexandria, its first responders, its telecommunicators, and the public.

“We have been monitoring the performance of our at-home telecommunicators, and they are able to handle the same volume of calls as our people at the ECC,” says Gordon. “As well, the FirstNet wireless connections have been very reliable. Overall the system’s performance has been excellent.”

At the same time, using at-home telecommunicators has allowed the DECC to implement social distancing at its physical locations without compromising service to the public. As well, “If we have a situation where we need extra help, we can contact one of our off-duty people working at home and ask them to fill the gap,” Gordon says. “They can do this quickly rather than having to drive into work—and it doesn’t matter if they’re wearing bedroom slippers.”

Brandi Palma is one of the DECC’s at-home telecommunicators. “I originally started dispatching from home in August,” she says. “I was previously working from a remote location in our headquarters. Therefore, it was easy for me to transition to work from home. I only had to pick up the remote equipment, take it home, set it all up, and use a hotspot to log in remotely—it was that easy!

“Working remotely and taking 9-1-1 calls from home has worked out really well,” she adds. “The only con is that I’m unable to assist the radio dispatchers. The dispatching portion of my job could not be done from my home. Therefore, I’m only answering 9-1-1 calls currently.”

Beyond COVID-19 

The success of Alexandria’s home-based 9-1-1 system means it will keep running it once COVID-19 has passed. “We are now rotating our staff through working at home to keep them proficient on the system, which we plan to do on an ongoing basis,” says Gordon. “We clean the equipment thoroughly whenever a returning home-based user brings it back us, then loan it to the next telecommunicator ready to work at home.”

This said, being able to work at home doesn’t mean that the DECC’s telecommunicators necessarily want to. Says Palma, “I miss being with my squad and the team atmosphere that normally comes with dispatching inside the center.” 

James Careless is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to EMS World.