At a recent 911 meeting, the board discussed trying to get the region's road signs, mapping and addressing project in motion in preparation for the future shift to SBC.
Tony Lewis, Muldrow police chief and administrator of the 911 system, said the board will probably go with SBC as the 911 provider for the eastern part of the county, which is housed in the Muldrow Police Department. If they do make the switch, they will use equipment approved by SBC. Lewis said SBC has an approved selection of vendors to choose from, and the board has the option of buying or leasing the equipment.
The 911 board is still in the process of selecting which system to use so costs are not yet available, Lewis said.
Talitha Daily, board chairman, said the board is in the process of getting the rural addressing and mapping in order to use SBC.
"We're going to do it," Daily said.
A new 911 system can't be installed without the signs and mapping project completed, and there is currently no time estimate for that project, Lewis said.
"I would personally like to see it up and running in two years," Lewis said.
The current 911 system is a stand-alone system, and in order to put addresses in the system, they have to sequentially call people to get their addresses. He said that type of system is not a unique system, but was done because of the budget at the time.
"It doesn't work the way we would like it to work," Lewis said.
Lewis said they are not pleased with the hardware and software of the system.
"Using that system you can't expect a high accuracy rate," Lewis said.
The problem with the current system is that it is not connected to SBC so they don't have access to a large database.
"In order to provide better service to the 427 exchange, we're exploring the feasibility of going with SBC as the 911 provider," Lewis said.
He said the SBC package acquired would include information sharing, and SBC would also provide dispatch training.
"They have an immense database," Lewis said.
SBC's database, along with road signs and mapping would simply decrease response time, Lewis said.
"Accuracy and response time are the two key elements to any emergency response," he said.
Lewis said under the circumstances, the current system works fairly well, but converting to SBC will be a better system for the area. It wouldn't matter if a resident in the 911 exchange is an SBC customer, he said. As long as the residents are in the 427 exchange, they should be able to call 911, Lewis said.
He said the 911 board has been looking at different options and are still in the organizational stage, but are on their way to getting an up-to-date 911 system.
