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Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright urges all county residents to be patient when calling 911.
A new, updated 911 system recently came on line for a seven county region including Guthrie County. Other counties in the region are Adair, Adams, Clark, Madison, Taylor, and Union.
Arganbright explained there is an approximate 10 second delay between when a 911 call is placed and when a dispatcher answers the line.
"Ten seconds can seem like an eternity in an emergency," commented Arganbright. "However, people need to remain patient and stay on the line so the system can do its work."
According to Guthrie County 911 coordinator Stephen Patterson, even local 911 phone calls are bounced to satellites and may be received at stations as far away as Colorado. The new 911 system uses the delay time to ascertain the location of the emergency call, and then routes the call to the nearest 911 dispatcher.
"The delay is built in to ensure the best routing of the call. The computers are routing the call faster than human dispatchers ever could," commented Patterson.
However, he added emergency personnel across the area recognize the new 10 second delay is excessive. The issue was discussed at a regional meeting held April 25 at the Union County Emergency Management Office in Creston. Patterson explained engineers are confident they will soon be able to shorten the delay.
"The delay will never go away completely, because we have to allow the routing system time to do its work," commented Patterson. "However, hopefully it soon will be shortened."
In the meantime, Arganbright urges county residents to be patient when making 911 calls.
"I know it's hard to be patient during an emergency, but hanging up and calling again before the routing time is completed will only further slow the process."
Arganbright stated if a 911 call simply will not go through, county residents can always call his office at 641-747-2214.
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©Guthrie Center Times 2013
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