Ohio’s emergency response system is getting a major upgrade.
Rural eastern Ohio’s Washington and Monroe counties have become the first in the state to implement Next Generation 911 (NG911), an internet-based emergency response system that allows Ohioans in an emergency to text and send photos and videos.
The state believes the technology will improve rural area’s emergency response times – which typically take twice as long as their urban counterparts.
“We know that every second saves lives in times of an emergency, and our early results are proving that out,” said Kathleen Madden, director of Ohio Department of Administrative Services.
Into the ‘modern age’
Like many other states, Ohio’s current 911 response system is built on analog telephone lines. The technology was designed decades ago, long before the modern smartphone’s geo-tracking capabilities.
Ten largely rural Ohio counties are piloting the new system, which replaces these “outdated” telephone lines with fast fiber optic cables. The more advanced technology allows text, photos, videos and geolocation services, which can pinpoint exactly on a map where a caller is coming from.
“It really brings us up to the modern age so that we can communicate effectively and efficiently with those first responders who we need to come to our rescue in times of emergency,” Madden said.
Currently, 911’s geolocation services are imprecise, leading calls to be routed to the wrong call centers. Operators then have to transfer calls to the correct response team, wasting precious minutes.
That’s a critical issue for the state’s rural areas, Madden said.
“I'm from a rural area. I live, like many people, close to a county line where you rely on mutual aid agreements to get to the right jurisdiction to respond to you,” Madden said. “Knowing exactly where the emergency is and where the call is coming from allows those agencies to respond directly, eliminating that excess call transfer.”
Ohio’s pilot counties are already seeing progress. Washington County adopted NG911 in December. In its first few days of implementation, around 37% of its calls were routed directly to the correct response team.
“It will certainly speed response times and improve the response times for all first responders to get to the site of an emergency,” Madden said.
Overhauling the system
Ohio is joining more than 15 states who have begun the transition toward NG911 services, including North Carolina, Iowa and California.
Governor Mike DeWine set aside $46 million of the 2024-2025 Executive Budget to adopt the advanced service system. Plus, the state raised wireless phone subscribers’ 25 cent monthly cell phone surcharge to 40 cents per month in January of last year. The increased surcharge will continue through September of 2025 to help fund NG911.
“Every second counts when we are talking about saving lives,” DeWine in a recent press release. “Next Generation 9-1-1 [sic] makes emergency services more efficient, especially in the rural areas of Ohio where it is critical to have strong and reliable communication infrastructure.”
It won’t be long until every county in Ohio will begin the transition to the advanced emergency response system. The state is aiming to offer the service statewide by spring of this year.
All of Ohio’s jurisdictions will then have five years to transfer to the new system. The hope, Madden said, is local governments will get on board right away.
“We're proud to say that the highway is now built. And so as we bring more counties into the system, we're going to get faster and faster.”
