Collaboration will speed 911 response

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July 19, 2012

Collaboration will speed 911 response

Anonymous The Muskogee Phoenix Thu Jul 19, 2012, 10:02 PM CDT

— Area 911 agencies’ efforts to collaborate on sharing electronic maps will fix a critical shortcoming.

911 agencies in Muskogee, Wagoner, Cherokee, Rogers, Mayes and Ottawa counties have detailed maps of their counties, but may not have the same detail available for neighboring counties.

“If we get a call about an accident in Checotah, we can locate it in our mapping system, but it’s just a blank area,” Muskogee City-County 911 Coordinator Darryl K. Maggard said.

The lack of detailed maps puts lives at risk.

If 911 responders spend any time trying to locate a victim, it could be the difference between life and death.

That’s why this collaboration is vital to the success of the 911 dispatchers.

The technology has been available for years on mapping websites.

Anyone with a smartphone knows there’s a app for that.

But, area 911 dispatchers are at a disadvantage if the same kind of technology isn’t at their fingertips within their system.

That’s why the groups are working together to make detailed maps available to each other.

This seems like such a no-brainer that maybe the state Legislature should be involved to coordinate an effort like this statewide.

The new mapping systems should be operational by November.

That’s later than we’d like, but so much better than never.

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