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Way back in the mists of time I was a volunteer firefighter, and I have many friends and family still in the public safety service. So, I feel the ongoing concerns which persist in the Emergency Services Number Network, around provision of a verified dispatchable address/location, really do hit close to home.

But is it just me, or is the press/media coverage around what dispatchable location is, and who is providing it, quite confusing?

So, I asked myself this question…what or who is a First Responder?

Having been one, and worked with many, I know the answer; however, I thought providing a definition might give some clarity to what the purpose of these blog posts is going to be.

A First Responder, according to CIPSRT (Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment) is defined as follows:

“A person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance at the scene of an emergency, such as an accident, natural disaster, or terrorist attack. Historically, first responders have traditionally included paramedics, [emergency dispatchers] and medical technicians, police officers, firefighters, and rescuers.”

And this is what I was looking for, “among the first” and to “provide assistance”.

To be the first on a scene, any scene, you need to know where you’re going. And there’s the rub. We don’t always know. In fact, according to some reports from the US, a dispatcher knows the location of an emergency mobile caller between 5-95% of the time! *

That’s a huge margin of accuracy or inaccuracy! And I think we can agree, it’s just not good enough. Some stories of location failure make the headlines, but thousands do not.

Sometimes we get to put a name to the victim, but for the most part they are sadly anonymous statistics.

Location of a mobile caller needs to be better, needs to be accurate, and needs to be provided with confidence and speed, but as we delve into and discuss the subject further over the coming weeks, we are going to find that this is not happening, and we need to figure out why.

Our EML (Emergency Mobile Location) methodology provides an “actual door to knock on”. It is the vital location tool that will support, improve, and drive the Emergency Service Industry into its requirement for delivering dispatchable address and Next Generation Services.

And our logo reflects this capability and vision with a tagline which describes exactly what we do, and WHY we do it:

Helping YOU save more lives

Who is the YOU? It’s the First Responder, the Dispatcher, the 9-1-1 Operator, the telecommunications network, regulator, federal agency, commission…anyone who works with or for the Emergency Number Network.

It’s about putting the right and best tool directly into the hands of those who are OUR Emergency Services.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/22/cellphone-911-lack-location-data/23570499/