Arlington Unveils New 9-1-1 Center

Arlington County emergency managers know about emergencies especially with the Pentagon in the county. That was perhaps part of the motivation behind the county's new emergency communications center (ECC) which was unveiled on Friday.

Robert Griffin, emergency management director, called it a "new day for communications and what emergency communications can bring to the whole public safety family."

The new facility was fueled by a need for more space to accommodate a new radio system for the county's emergency personnel. Their aging analog radio system has been replaced by a more robust digital network with increased capacity and coverage.

The digital radio network uses the Project 25 standard specified by the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. Arlington County is the first area jurisdiction to fully implement such a radio system.

Griffin says the new center took three years of planning and cost $9.6 million. That includes construction, furniture, video capabilities, cabling, the computer-aided dispatch system and the 9-1-1 system. The number of 9-1-1 lines has tripped from 16 to 48, and includes support for Voice over IP (VoIP) callers.

The new radio system cost $18 million and included the construction of two additional antenna sites for improved coverage, the new ECC radio room, and a new microwave system linking the sites.

The ECC video wall consists of 14 50-inch monitors covering 115 square feet of wall space. Emergency personnel can observe traffic and security cameras, mapping and eventually real-time status of utility outages.

The current center processed 458,906 calls in 2007 which included 101,949 calls to 9-1-1. More than 60 percent were received from cellular phones.

The new center, located in police headquarters on Courthouse Road, begins receiving calls and dispatching on the new radio system on Tuesday, May 20. It is staffed by 45 employees who work four 12-hour shifts.