COST THWARTS EFFORT TO BOOST 911 RESPONSES.

Byline: Kermit Pattison Daily News Staff Writer

A push to streamline 911 responses among Ventura County emergency agencies has run into a snag because a sophisticated computer system is currently too costly and is not readily available.

Supervisor Frank Schillo and other county officials said GTE representatives raised false hopes by painting an overly optimistic picture of what turned out to be nothing more than a conceptual proposal.

``It boils down to some people who made some rash statements about what they could do,'' Schillo said. ``They didn't perform on it.''

But GTE executives said they merely investigated the county's request and concluded the software system would be too expensive.

``Our folks told them they would look at it,'' said GTE spokesman Mike Raydo. ``When they came back, they were honest and said `We don't think this would be cost-effective for the county.' ''

A county task force began meeting last year searching for ways to coordinate dispatch systems of police, fire and ambulance agencies and shorten response times.

Under the current system, 911 operators enter emergency calls in their own computer dispatch system, then pick up a phone to relay the information to ambulance dispatchers, who type the same information into another computer system. The proposed system would enter the data only once to give both services instant notification - potentially saving precious minutes in life-and-death emergencies.

Schillo said GTE gave a presentation to the task force last year promoting a soon-to-be-available system that would meet the county's goal of streamlining 911 calls. But, he said, GTE representatives failed to get back in touch for three months.

Finally, Schillo said, GTE executives earlier this month apologized and said the system would not pan out.

``They said the technology is there but they haven't been able to put it all together,'' Schillo said. ``It really ticked me off.''

But GTE spokesman Raydo said the company investigated the feasibility of what the county wanted and concluded it was not cost-effective. Although pieces of the necessary software exist, he said, the cost of the overall system would be exorbitant.

``I don't have the cost figure, but it was astronomical,'' Raydo said. ``. . . I would say in the millions.''

County officials said the news came as a blow to their efforts to integrate their emergency dispatch systems. Now officials have returned to the drawing board searching for other methods to cut response times.

``We were under the impression it was very nearly there,'' said Cmdr. Richard Purnell of the Ventura County Sheriff's Department. ``But in follow-up meetings, it wasn't the case. It was still something they were a long way from achieving.''

Now Purnell said the county will focus on building improvements into its own computer system.

``We are still working to that end,'' he said. ``It's just going to take a little longer because we have to build the system ourselves.''

But officials said the task force already has borne some fruit because it has identified problems in shortening response times and integrating the dispatch systems.

``It wouldn't surprise me if the technology is available to us in a very short period of time the way things are going,'' said Ventura County Assistant Fire Chief Richard Perry.