CHP'S 911 CALL DUTIES TO CHANGE.

Byline: Stephanie Cain Staff Writer

New legislation that will allow public safety agencies other than the California Highway Patrol to field wireless 911 calls will go into effect Jan. 1.

Assembly Bill 1263, authored by Assemblywoman Helen Thomson, D, Vacaville, has been signed by Gov. Gray Davis. The bill wipes clean current law mandating that all wireless 911 calls be routed through the CHP.

Since the CHP must reroute all non-highway calls to local police and fire agencies, callers are often left hanging for minutes at a time while dispatchers struggle to deal with too many callers.

The number of wireless 911 calls has exploded over the past 15 years, jumping 7,000 percent from 1984 to 1997, when the CHP handled more than 3 million of these calls. Of those 3 million calls, about 30 percent had to be transferred to a different agency because the CHP did not have jurisdiction over the particular emergency.

``Back (when the CHP first took responsibility for wireless 911 calls), anyone who used a cell phone probably had it hooked up in their car, so when the legislation said (the CHP would) take (wireless 911 calls) it was usually associated with something on a roadway,'' CHP Commissioner Dwight ``Spike'' Helmick said.

The CHP responds to roadway emergencies but must farm out emergencies not in their jurisdiction to the appropriate agency.

``Now, we have someone on the golf course having a heart attack, or someone who has fallen into the pool in their back yard. There's no longer a nexus between the cell phone and the roadway,'' Helmick said.

Thomson said she realized such legislation was needed through several tragedies that occurred in Northern California, including one in which a South Davis family trying to report that their home was on fire was forced to wait while dispatchers transferred their call several times to the proper agency.

``It's just good common sense, and that's what the law should be about,'' Thomson said.

Provided it is technologically feasible and benefits public safety, and provided the call in question originates outside the CHP's jurisdiction, AB 1263 will allow another agency to directly receive wireless 911 calls.

Those provisions simply mean that different agencies need to begin working toward a solution, Thomson said.

``The CHP and local agencies need to sit down and pool their resources,'' Thomson said. ``We want them not to do their territoriality thing but to see what is the best way to provide this service.''