Officials: Missouri lagging in 911 coverage / LJWorld.com

Archive for Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Associated Press

October 30, 2007

Kansas City, Mo. — Missouri emergency communications officials say the state's emergency 911 coverage lags behind those of surrounding states.

Rep. Mark Bruns, R-Jefferson City, heads a special committee that held hearings on the issue around the state this summer.

"We heard over and over again horror stories from dispatchers," Bruns said.

One case in Johnson County, Mo., was particularly haunting, he said.

"The lady was being beaten, and all she could say was, 'Help me, he's going to kill me,' and the cell phone went dead," Bruns said. "To this day they don't know where it came from."

Missouri officials say their state is the only one that lacks a statewide funding source for enhanced 911, commonly known as E-911. Only 21 of Missouri's 114 counties have finished installing the system. Officials in the counties that haven't say they lack money to do so.

All the counties in the Kansas City metropolitan area have the E-911 capability.

In Kansas, 71 of the 105 counties have the capability since a 50-cent monthly cell phone fee went into effect July 1, 2004.

Bruns said many Missouri counties have used a sales tax option to pay for their E-911 systems.

Randy Griffis, the E-911 coordinator for Pettis County, said his county will have the capability soon because of a sales tax that voters there approved.

Bruns said Gov. Matt Blunt and legislative leaders are calling on his committee to make a recommendation by Dec. 1.

"The governor is very concerned about the problem, and we've been communicating on a regular basis," Bruns said. "Of course, I don't have an easy solution, and I haven't heard one from his office either."

Missouri needs to find $40 million for one year and $10 million per year after that, Bruns said. The state could impose a tariff on cell phones legislatively next year without violating the Hancock Amendment, which limits the amount of revenue to the state, he said.

Missouri voters have twice rejected such a fee - in 1999 and again in 2002.

Lawmakers in Kansas approved a 50-cent monthly fee on wireless phone bills so that rural counties could afford E-911 systems.