This week, Beaver County will deploy new life-saving equipment to improve 911 services for residents, including Enhanced 911 service with cellular phone location technology. This technology will allow emergency telecommunicators to receive an address along with map information for both wireless and wireline 911 callers.
The new service is set to launch at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 28.
Developing the new county 911 program has been a 3-year process that started in 2017 after the passing of the Oklahoma 911 Management Authority Act. The act included language to aid counties in updating 911 equipment, training 911 dispatchers, and becoming compliant with industry standards and public expectation. The Act also included a grant program that is funded by a portion of the state 911 wireless fee.
Beaver County worked internally to form a 911 board and create a plan to deploy 911 for their county, which was approved by the Oklahoma 911 Management Authority as required by statute. The Authority then provided Beaver County a grant of $275,864 to purchase the 911 equipment and help fund the startup costs for the services. The funding is delivered through a Federal 911 grant secured and administered by Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the State 911 grant program overseen by the Authority. The remaining amount was locally funded. The total cost of the project was $344,830.
In the United States, there are a limited number of counties that do not offer Enhanced 911 services with caller location technology. After Beaver County’s launch on Wednesday, there will be only four counties remaining in Oklahoma: Cimarron, Cotton, Harper and Nowata. The Oklahoma 911 Management Authority continues to work with the remaining counties to deploy these services. This will ensure all residents and visitors in Oklahoma can receive the same level of critical, life-saving service when they call 911.
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