Modernizing 911: Three simple steps for a faster emergency response

When people experience an emergency or life-threatening situation, they dial 911 with the expectation that help will quickly be on the way. However, due to emergency center staffing shortages, large call volumes and other factors, 911 response times have increased in recent years. In some cities, it can even take hours for help to arrive.

Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems are doing their part to make emergency response times shorter and more efficient. CAD systems automate emergency dispatches by fielding and prioritizing incoming phone calls to 911 operators, pinpointing the location of callers and submitting dispatch orders to the nearest first responders.

But many CAD systems operate off older legacy 911 networks, are buckling under the weight of unsustainable amounts of traffic and are vulnerable to configuration errors or even cybersecurity attacks. They suffer from performance issues that can cause significant delays in response times—which is an issue that needs to be avoided at all costs considering the difference between losing and saving a life could be seconds.

Fortunately, if you’re a network administrator in charge of a local 911 district, there are three steps you can take to significantly improve the performance of your CAD systems—and get first responders to the scene more quickly.

Routinely audit for possible configuration errors
If a CAD is running inefficiently, it could be the result of a misconfiguration error somewhere within the system. A simple network configuration error can slow down a system or even bring it offline altogether and take hours if not days to repair.

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