The Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Communications Forum announced that Iowa became the first State to provide each of its 117 public safety answer points (PSAPs) with an NG9-1-1 Internet Protocol (IP) network. As the wireless carriers’ IP systems are enhanced to offer citizens new public safety capabilities, Iowa’s public safety answering points (PSAPs), or 9-1-1 centers, will be able to receive digital information in the form of texts, and eventually photos and video.
This is part of the Next Generation (NG9-1-1) system being implemented all over the country to enhance the public’s ability to communicate with emergency dispatch systems.
Moving on
For more information on the history of Iowa’s NG9-1-1 system, see the January Edition of the Department of Homeland Security Emergency Communications Forum.
For more information about NG9-1-1, see the Wikipedia article, or the National Emergency Number Association’s (NENA) website, or their PDF description. NENA also has a Powerpoint overview of NG9-1-1.
Photo Credit (right) Timothy Wildey