911 whats your emergency

"911 what's your emergency". Anyone who has dialed 911 has heard these words. What if you dialed 911 and all you got was a recorded message that said "the number you dialed is no longer available"? This scenario would never happen, it is a real possibility that your 911 call will be delayed due in part to a decision by the Broward County Commission.

County officials stated that they can no longer support the Emergency Dispatch while they (the County) face a $100 million dollar shortfall. According to published reports the cost to cover Fort Lauderdale emergency calls is approximately $5.7 million dollars. The City of Fort Lauderdale is also facing a deficit of over $45 million dollars. According to Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti, this decision "the county's move threatens to disintegrate a unified dispatch system and harm emergency responders' ability to react quickly to calls for help" I could not agree more.

I spoke with AT&T concerning the .50 cents 911 service fee and was told that in Florida the fee is supposed to finance the maintenance and operations of 911 call centers. From my research this fee does not come even close to covering the true costs. In one study, "Florida underfunds its 911 system. Florida's 911 fees are in the bottom third of all states, its fee collections are declining, and it pays less than two-thirds of the cost of 911 service, leaving the rest to cash-strapped counties. And state law prohibits spending 911 funding on dispatch services, seen as an integral part, if not the purpose, of a 911 system."

To understand the need for 911 you should know the history. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice issued its report, recommending that police departments have a single number to call, and that eventually that single number should be used nationwide. The report stated, "The Commission recommends: Wherever practical, a single police telephone number should be established, at least within a metropolitan area and eventually over the entire United States, comparable to the telephone company's long-distance information number." The recommendation was based on input from the Commission's Task Force on Science and Technology. Since 1967 the entire nation relies on 911 to reach out to its first responders.

In California, a State in the same dire situation as Florida, some cities have opted for a pay as used fee; $300 for Fire-Rescue and $400 for Police. They are offering a annual membership fee of $48. I am not advocating this at all, but this is what I see as the extreme solution to our problem. I do not have a solution. In my conversation with Mayor Jack Seiler, he told me that "this will get resolved somehow".

I see first hand the need to reduce our deficit both on a county and city level, but not at the cost of public safety.