USA: NENA has called for a prohibition on state legislatures misusing funds for 911 services

[Marketwire] TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) (NASDAQ: TSYS), a leading provider of wireless communications technology, announced today that it supports the efforts of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) to prohibit state legislatures from raiding critical 9-1-1 funding. The economic recession has devastated the revenues of many states, forcing legislatures to search for extra dollars in other areas of their budgets. Many states have found caches of money in 9-1-1 funds that have been accumulated by 9-1-1 authorities over the years to pay for equipment and service upgrades. The redirection of these funds could have disastrous consequences on the preparedness and future viability of many 9-1-1 authorities to upgrade their technologies as needed.

"What is not recognized by the current situation is that the voters continue to support activities that they see as valuable and as well managed," said Bob Oenning, Director of 9-1-1 for the State of Washington. "Even with tight money, there is support for those things of value, including 9-1-1. Taking these funds not only endangers the ability for states to keep 9-1-1 viable, it inserts a degree of distrust into one of the nation's most trusted services."

Harriet Miller-Brown, 9-1-1 State Administrator for Michigan State Police added, "While times are tight for everyone, using 9-1-1 funds for non-public safety purposes can hamper the delivery of 9-1-1 services, in the present and the future. The daily operational costs such as payroll, communications systems and training are essential to effective 9-1-1 services. Furthermore, 9-1-1 technology is in a state of growth; if emergency call answering and dispatching services are expected to keep up with the evolving technology facing them, the resources must be available for them to do that."

TCS has been enabling wireless E9-1-1 services for over a decade. Its E9-1-1 system, which provides cable, VoIP and wireless E9-1-1 service for more than 140 million wireless and IP-enabled devices, is used to ensure that consumers' emergency calls are routed to the appropriate Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and automatically pinpoint and deliver a caller's location information. TCS pioneered the methods by which PSAPs in the U.S. are able to receive a wireless or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscriber's location during calls for emergency assistance. In addition, TCS currently operates the only TL9000-certified wireless and VoIP E9-1-1 Network Operations Center in the world and supports emergency services for over 150,000 E9-1-1 calls daily.

TeleCommunication Systems Supports NENA's Call to Cease State Government Raiding of 9-1-1 Funds - States Are Redirecting Citizen-Approved 9-1-1 Funding to Other Non-Public-Safety Uses
see also NENA policy statement