The Expanded Emergency Response Ecosystem

Wednesday, August 7, | 8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
Michael Dame, Acting Associate Administrator, NTIA; Jeremy Hill, Public Safety Advisor, NTIA; Lee Ann Magoski, Director of Emergency Communications, Monterey County; Karl Fasold, Director, Orleans Parish Communication District

Representatives from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) led a session on the Expanded Emergency Response Ecosystem, which highlighted the comprehensive vision of next generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) and how emergency communications centers (ECCs) can benefit from this vision. Acting Associate Administrator for NTIA, Michael Dame, explained NTIA's role as the executive branch agency that is principally responsible for advising the president on telecommunications and information policy issues. Mr. Dame highlighted the importance of collaborating with the 9-1-1 community to ensure they have the right information about the successes and challenges facing ECCs when advising the president. Public Safety Advisor Jeremy Hill also explained that there are four necessary tenets that make up NTIA's vision for NG9-1-1: interoperability, resiliency, multimedia capability, and security.

During the session, ECC directors discussed the advanced capabilities that will be present in an NG9-1-1 environment and specifically highlighted how their centers have begun to implement artificial intelligence. Karl Fasold, Director of the Orleans Parish Communication District, described how his agency has implemented AI to triage 9-1-1 calls regarding multi-vehicle accidents. Mr. Fasold emphasized that the AI capabilities don't take away from the public's experience, and instead they allow the 9-1-1 caller to be confident that emergency services have been alerted to the incident. Similarly, Lee Ann Magoski, Director of Emergency Communications for Monterey County, noted that the reward associated with implementing AI far outweighs the risks because it enables the public safety telecommunicator to focus on what they need to focus on to help people. Ms. Magoski explained that her ECC has implemented AI to handle non-emergency calls so that her staff can focus solely on answering 9-1-1 calls.

Submitted by Alison Venable