9-1-1 Phone System

All 9-1-1 calls placed from wireline (landline) or wireless (cell phones) from within Greensboro, the Town of Gibsonville, and other areas of Guilford County (except within the city of High Point) are delivered to one of the two Guilford Metro 9-1-1 PSAPs via an “Enhanced 911 System” provided by BellSouth.

This enhanced system routes the call to the 9-1-1 PSAP that handles calls for that area. The system also uses a set of high-speed data links between the 9-1-1 centers and BellSouth’s subscriber databases (located in Miami and Charlotte) to allow the telecommunicator taking the 9-1-1 call to see the address and phone number of the caller.

In addition, both of the 9-1-1 centers can receive and plot the latitude and longitude of a cell phone’s location (if the cell phone is equipped to send such information).

When calls require response from an agency outside of Guilford Metro 9-1-1’s service area, the telecommunicator can use a pre-programmed forwarding of the call to other agencies in the county. In case of a misrouted 9-1-1 call or in times of disaster, the system transfers individual callers to other 9-1-1 centers in North Carolina. In addition, the 9-1-1 phone equipment at both of the PSAPs can detect and respond to calls from citizens using Telecommunications Devices for the Deaf (TDD). The system then automatically sends a pre-formatted response to the hearing impaired caller, either in Baudot or the ASCII format. Using this technology, the telecommunicator can type any questions or messages to the caller, and the caller ‘s responses are displayed on screen for the telecommunicator to read.

Computer Aided Dispatch

Once telecommunicators have the location and phone number of a caller, they electronically forward the information into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. The CAD system plots the location of the caller or incident on an electronic map display, as well as the nearest established address. The system then recommends the appropriate personnel and apparatus to be sent for assistance.

Certification

All of GM 9-1-1's telecommunicators have received extensive training and are nationally certified in Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD) and Emergency Fire Dispatch (EFD) through the National Academies of Emergency Dispatch. As a part of that certification, the CAD system has a set of protocol-based EMD and EFD call-taking programs integrated into the system. These state-of-the-art programs provide specifically structured call intake questions. Depending on the specific responses to each question and the nature of the call, the response level and the personnel or apparatus may be changed or modified to provide for the optimal response.