Beginning today, faculty, staff and students needing emergency help on campus will have quicker, more direct service through a new enhanced 911 system.
911 emergency calls from campus telephones will go directly to University Police telecommunicators, who will route the calls.
Previously, students and employees were encouraged to dial 2-6565 to reach University Police directly in an emergency. They also could dial the University phone system's outside access number, 9, then 911, but their call would have to be routed back to University Police by the Orange County 911 Center.
The new system offers enhanced 911 service, allowing telecommunicators to receive automatically the location and phone number of incoming calls, said Cindy Merritt, chief telecommunicator with the University Police. That allows telecommunicators to respond better to medical emergencies where the caller loses consciousness or calls from young children or others who cannot speak. The caller's location and phone number appear on the telecommunicator's screen so help can be dispatched even without verbal communication.
Interim Police Chief Donald Gold said the new capability for people on the campus phone system to dial just 911 for emergencies should hasten call responses.
"This is one more attempt by the department to professionalize and improve its service," Gold said. "We feel that enhanced 911 will give us improved caller information and that we, in turn, will be able to respond quicker to calls in our service area. This is just another attempt by us to provide more up-to-date technology in the service to our clients."
Gold and Merritt stressed that 911 should be used whenever emergency services--police, fire or rescue--or a rapid response is needed. For routine police calls, use 2-8100. Administrative staff can be dialed directly by using their phone numbers listed in the campus directory.
They strongly urged callers who mistakenly dial 911 to stay on the line. Otherwise, telecommunicators are required to contact the caller by phone to be sure no emergency service is needed. If a caller cannot be reached an officer will be dispatched to the call site.
During a July monthlong test of the new system, 594 calls placed to the campus 911 number resulted in hang-ups, more than double the average number of previous hang-ups, Merritt said.
Some of the hang-ups may have resulted from the caller dialing a 9 for an outside number, then the proceeding with a 1 for a long-distance call, Merritt said. A slip of the finger may have led to 911 being dialed, and callers simply hung up when connected to the police.
Others may have stemmed from incorrect use of a paging system frequently used at the hospital, she said. The pager numbers begin with 110, and callers who first dial a 9 for outside line, followed by the pager number, automatically are sent to the police, even though other digits followed the initial 911. Campus callers do not need a 9 to access the paging system.
The system, which cost the University a one-time charge of $30,000 and a $15,000 annual increase in its telephone bill, includes new equipment for both the University Police Communications Center and the campus phone system. The change was made possible through cooperation of the University Police, Administrative Data Processing, Telecommunications, Southern Bell and Nortel, Merritt said.
The campus has been working on the change for about two years, she said. Besides new equipment, the police have created two new telecommunications positions to help handle the anticipated increased volume of calls. Eight telecommunicators now work in pairs for 12-hour shifts.
To the UNC Home Page