911 Center to Get $1M in Upgrades

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After $1 million in upgrades, Lewis County’s 911 Communication Center is poised to be able to receive voice, photo, video and text messages over a new digital system.

Lewis County is just the fourth county in Washington to get certified on the new technology, known as Next Generation 911. With the hardware in place, the county must wait until more municipalities integrate the technology before a statewide rollout of the software that will enable its use.

What this does is set us up get us ready to do this,” said Emergency Management Director Steve Mansfield. “I felt that it was a good idea to let people know that we're really trying to promote the public safety.”

Switching from a phone-based to digital system required replacing radios, computers and the center’s phone system. The upgrades came to about $1 million, more than half of which was funded by the county. Mansfield said a substantial portion also came from a state grant, though he did not have details at hand.

Once Next Generation 911 hardware is implemented throughout the Washington, the county will be able to tap into the statewide system and begin receiving live video, photos and text messages. It will also enable faster and more accurate pinpointing of callers.



Mansfield said having that extra information will be valuable for officers responding to a scene.

“It’s not going to get our folks there any faster,” he said. “But it is going to get them there more informed, more able to make some tactical decisions along the way. … Us being able to communicate with [citizens] and them being able to communicate back in different mediums is very important.”

Before Next Generation 911 is implemented, the county will also have to decide how the data is kept, a question of both storage and privacy concerns.