Calling 911 on your cell? Trumbull dispatch can find you

WARREN — Despite the delay caused by a lawsuit, Trumbull County is fortunate today to have the updated technology that allows its five 911 centers to locate wireless 911 calls to within 10 feet or so in most cases. Mahoning County also has it.

Trumbull County became Phase 2 compliant in April 2013, meaning the digital mapping of the county and the other equipment in use was sufficiently up-to-date to allow 911 operators to identify the location of wireless callers to within feet rather than miles.

Because all of the counties that surround Trumbull also have that technology, a tragedy such as the one highlighted last week in an NBC News report would be less likely to occur here, said Ernie Cook, chief Trumbull County deputy and county 911 director.

The NBC report was about a woman who called 911 from her cellphone in suburban Atlanta when her car went into a lake. She told the dispatcher the names of the two streets that intersected at the accident location, but the dispatcher could not locate her for 20 minutes because the call went to a cellphone tower in an adjacent county that was not equipped with the most up-to-date technology.

The woman was rescued, but died later.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com