In 7th grade, my middle school basketball team memorized the military alphabet to communicate plays verbally without having to be secretive. I worked so hard to get it down that I can still recite it today. It’s just committed to memory.
911 telecommunicators have to do this with roughly 10 times more words, acronyms, and phrases. The stakes aren’t the 2011 CMAC Championship, they’re life and death. The task isn’t singular, it’s one of many to occur within the short span of a 911 call. Their recall is total so they can function quickly and decisively.
When the stakes are this high and the glossary so large, it’s useful to start with the basics. The following terms form a foundation to build on for 911 professionals and members of the public safety community.
Precise communication during emergency response is crucial. The difference between 5th Street and 5th Avenue is massive. The color of a suspect’s hair and the make of their car could have police chasing the wrong person. In emergency response and public safety, specificity and accuracy are the name of the game.
If you work in 911 or public safety, you will hear these terms on day one. You will probably hear them on day one of your job interview process, for that matter.
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) is a common name for 911 centers that receive and process 911 calls. PSAPs may also be referred to as Emergency Communications Centers (ECCs). PSAPs are the nucleus of 911.
Automatic number identification (ANI) is the technology used by PSAPs to identify the telephone number of a caller that’s reached their center .
Automatic location identification (ALI) is the sibling of ANI, often referred to in combination as ANI/ALI. It provides the origination location associated with telephone number collected by ANI
Computer-aded dispatch (CAD) systems, “are utilized by dispatchers, call-takers, and 911 operators to prioritize and record incident calls, identify the status and location of responders in the field, and effectively dispatch responder personnel,” per the Department of Homeland Security.
If PSAPs are the nucleus of 911, CAD can be considered part of the nucleus of the PSAP.
Geographic information systems (GIS) are essential tools to capture, visualize, store, and analyze data in mapped form, often referred to as a “spatial system.”
911 and emergency response run on network and communications protocols. They ensure data, including audio and multimedia, can be delivered from caller to PSAP.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) allows for the delivery of voice calls over internet in lieu or instead of via analog.
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) can, “establish, modify, and terminate multimedia sessions (conferences) such as Internet telephony calls,” per the Internet Engineering Task Force. For public safety purposes, SIP can be used for VoIP and NENA i2 and i3.
The Emergency Services IP Network (ESInet) is a managed IP network built specifically for emergency services communications, shared amongst public safety agencies.
As detailed by NG911, “The purpose of an ESInet is to have a reliable network to support and transport 911 calls to i3-compliant PSAPs. Following NENA standards, known as i3, ESInets support Next Generation Core Services (NGCS).”
As consumer technology has advanced, 911 has struggled to keep up. New and advanced 911 systems are important to keep communities safe in the modern world.
NG911 is, “A digital, internet protocol (IP)-based system that will replace the analog 911 infrastructure that’s been in place for decades,” per 911.gov. It promises increased compatibility with modern consumer technology, a more resilient national 911 system, improved emergency response, and more, per NG911now.org.
Check out this beginner’s guide to NG911 if you’d like to learn more.
An Emergency Services Routing Proxy (ESRP) is a router that helps direct calls to the correct place in lieu of an NG911 router.
A Location to Service Translation (LoST) protocol takes certain data and maps it to other data, such as a URL, as a location identifier, potentially for a PSAP.
For the bulk of 911’s history since the first call was placed in Haleyville, Alabama in 1968, location has not been a given. It remains the first thing that telecommunicators seek to solve when a new call for service is received.
But what happens if a call was routed to the wrong 911 center? How do calls get routed to the right 911 centers to begin with?
Per Cal OES, “Emergency Call Routing Function (ECRF) is the functional element where caller location and routing information for that call is stored.”
The [NENA Knowledge Base](https://kb.nena.org/wiki/LVF_(Location_Validation_Function)#:~:text=LVF (Location Validation Function) is,the authoritative GIS database information.) describes the Location Validation Function (LVF) as, “a Functional Element in an NGCS (Next Generation 9-1-1 Core Services) that is a LoST protocol server where civic location information is validated against the authoritative GIS database information.”
The advent of NG911 and the data that can now be collected by PSAPs has fundamentally altered the scale of data that individual agencies are required to manage. That doesn’t mean, however, that the basics have been rendered irrelevant.
The Master Street Address Guide (MSAG) is a comprehensive database of streets and houses within each of their associated communities that helps ensure 911 calls are properly routed.
A Location Information Server (LIS) gives PSAPs the location of a given “endpoint,” for example an IP address and provides it “by reference” or “by value.”
An Emergency Service Zone (ESZ) is a defined geographical area that indicates which emergency services agencies, such as fire, police, or emergency medical, are within a given 911 agency’s jurisdiction. Emergency Service Numbers (ESNs) are three to five digit numbers that represent a given ESZ.
These are essential to determine which responding agencies will aid caller’s during a given emergency based on their location.
The importance of interoperability in the modern PSAP can’t be understated. With a wealth of technologies now at the disposal of agencies, their directors, and their frontline telecommunicators, it’s crucial that each platform works in concert with the other to limit the impact of a new technology on agency workflows.
Interoperability impacts workflows outside of the PSAP as well. If 911 and the fire department, for example, aren’t on the same page, the impact could be disastrous. NG911 can be lifesaving but only if the right parties are able to access it when they need it.
Per the NENA Master Glossary, a Legacy Network Gateway (LNG) is, “A signaling and media interconnection point between callers in legacy wireline/wireless originating networks and the i3 architecture, so that i3 PSAPs are able to receive emergency calls from such legacy networks.”
A key stopgap solution as the country slowly transitions to NG911, a Legacy PSAP Gateway (LPG) provides a connection pint between a PSAP on the ESInet and a “legacy” PSAP, ensuring a call can be delivered from the ESInet PSAP to the legacy PSAP.
A Legacy Selective Router Gateway (LSRG) is another solution for agencies during the slow transition to NG911, providing the ability for calls to be transferred between legacy and NG911 networks.
Every PSAP and its telecommunicators are expected to maintain certain levels of performance and quality service. Various metrics help define what “good” and “acceptable look like for agencies and individuals, with multiple core metrics standardized nationwide.
QA and QI are key elements of running an effective PSAP. The NENA Master Glossary defines Quality Assurance as a, “System that facilitates review and evaluation of work product. Information is used to validate effectiveness of training and evaluate need for additional training or other corrective action.”
In the same vein, QI takes the information discovered in the QA process and uses it to level up individuals by training against their mistakes.
The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) is one of, if not the, leading professional organizations focused on the advancement of 911. As part of their efforts, NENA has a number of working groups focused on key issues across the industry. NENA Standards are a product of these workings groups, which create the documents that form the collection.
Examples of areas in which NENA may have a standard include: PSAP Logistics, PSAP Operations, 911 Core Services, and Wellness.
Prepared Assist, the first-ever AI-powered, assistive technology for 911, is built to fit within the ecosystem defined by some of the terms you read above (and many more beyond). The platform’s aim is to help PSAPs meet the unique demands of 911 in the 21st century.
Today, PSAPs nationwide are reckoning with a staffing crisis in the midst of a surge in call volume and an onslaught of newly available, next-generation data. While this data has proven lifesaving, its value can only go as far as the telecommunicator’s ability to leverage it.
In an era where those wearing the headset are operating with razor thin margins, that ability is diminished, through no fault of their own.
That’s why Prepared Assist is built to help telecommunicators be more efficient on every single call. Using AI, PSAPs have been able to ease the burden of note-taking and streamline operations. Lifesaving practices like telecommunicator CPR (T-CPR) are enhanced by the availability of media.
Assisting Every Call For Service