Attention NBC News – New technology wasn’t needed to save Shanell Anderson’s life

Attention NBC News your story about 911 on tonight’s news is greatly flawed. Instead of the headline “Many 911 Centers Can’t Locate Callers Because of Old Technology” it probably should read “Many 911 Centers Can’t Locate Callers Because of Poorly Trained Workers.”

Previously: I call BS: Another 911 failure blamed on technology instead of training

The reason help was delayed as Shanell Anderson’s vehicle sank in a Georgia pond isn’t because the latest GPS technology wasn’t in place. It’s because the 911 call taker didn’t know what to do when the address Ms. Anderson gave didn’t show up on her computer screen. Ms. Anderson not only immediately gave the correct intersection she gave the damn Zip Code. If a 911 center can’t figure the location out with that much information, why are they even in business?

The Zip Code 30188 is Woodstock, Georgia in Cherokee County, a neighboring jurisdiction. But the call taker might not have needed to look that up if she had been properly trained what to do the very first time the address Ms. Anderson gave failed to materialize in the Alpharetta 911 center’s database. The simple question, “What county are you in?” may have instantly solved this problem. But in the recordings that have been played, that question was never asked.

I explained all of this in a STATter911.com column after WXIA-TV reporter Brendan Keefe first told Ms. Anderson’s story three-weeks-ago. I even had Twitter and email conversations with Keefe explaining that this is a terrible example to use in pushing for the new technology. Cell phone calls have been going to the wrong jurisdictions for more than thirty-years. Well trained 911 workers in 911 centers that have good procedures should have no problem handling this call without relying on the GPS technology in smart phones.

Even though they used the wrong example to illustrate their story, I applaud Keefe and Jeff Rossen at NBC News for trying to get the latest technology for 911 centers. Would it be nice to have? Yes, of course.

In his story reporter Rossen talked with one of the top 911 center directors in the country, Steve Souder, right here in my home jurisdiction of Fairfax County, Virginia.

I know he doesn’t look it, but Steve has been involved in this business even before there was 911. He was one of the best dispatchers the DC Fire Department ever had and was there when Air Florida Flight 90 slammed into the 14th Street Bridge on January 13, 1982. Steve was running the 911 center in Arlington, Virginia on September 11, 2001 and also directed the 911 center in Montgomery County, Maryland.

I guarantee you Jeff Rossen if you had bothered to ask Steve what’s the most important part of his 911 center that ensures the safety of the citizens of Fairfax County each and every day, he would tell you it isn’t GPS, the computer aided dispatch system that processes the calls or any other bit of technology. Steve would tell you, with all sincerity, it’s all about the people who work there  and how they are managed. You must hire the right people , train them well and have good standard operating procedures. They also need to be able to handle the critical thinking involved that allows 911 center employees to be able to still help people when the technology fails.

The human failure in Alpharetta, Georgia is happening all across the country. And I will admit it can be blamed on technology. Relying too much on the technology and not on the people. Many 911 centers have based their setup on the computers doing all  of the thinking and providing all of the answers. My educated guess is more often than not, that’s what’s really killing people.