NYC to Upgrade its 911 System for $1.5 Billion

The city is moving forward with a $1.5 billion plan to upgrade its 911 system by 2009, officials confirmed this week.

As it stands, police operators transfer fire and medical emergency calls to FDNY and EMS phone dispatchers, meaning 911 callers often have to repeat details of their emergencies before getting help.

"You wind up repeating all the same information two or three times," said Edward Skyler, the deputy mayor for administration.

Under the new plan, police operators will field all calls, then communicate by computer with FDNY and EMS dispatchers.

"In a fire, or (a case of) someone having a heart attack, seconds count," Skyler said.

Police will move into a new high-tech 911 call center at Brooklyn's MetroTech Center by March 2008, and the center will be fully up and running, with fire and EMS personnel, by March 2009, he added.

NYPD and EMS already have separate call centers in the MetroTech Center, while the FDNY keeps separate dispatch centers in each of the five boroughs.

The city also plans to break ground on a backup call center in the Bronx by July 2009, but still must acquire the land, at 1200 Waters Place and, if necessary, start eminent domain proceedings against the land's current owner.

Skyler laid out the plan's timeline in an April 13 memo to several top city, police, fire and emergency service officials, calling it "among the most important initiatives the Bloomberg administration has undertaken."

"Achieving these goals will make it very difficult for a future administration to cancel this project and, conversely, not achieving them will put this vital public-safety initiative at risk," Skyler wrote.

The city will fund the bulk of the overhaul out of its budget, with $8 million coming from a federal Department of Homeland Security grant, Skyler said.

It's not the only change Mayor Michael Bloomberg has planned for the 911 system.

In January, during his State of the City speech, Bloomberg announced an initiative to allow 911 and 311 operators to receive pictures and video from callers.

John Annese is a news reporter for the Advance. He may be reached at annese@siadvance.com

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