Community Corner
City Unveils Better 911 System
A new computer system will speed response times and know where callers are located in an emergency.
The city’s new $2.1 billion 911 system is now up and running at MetroTech Center in Downtown Brooklyn, a state-of-the-art call center capable of processing up to 50,000 calls an hour, according to DNAinfo.
The old 911 system was widely-criticized when lines overloaded and jammed after a multitude of snowstorms battered the city last year. But according to the report, the new system, dubbed VESTA, uses a new high-capacity computer system that will mean not only faster response times, but a protection against stress on the system. DNAinfo also adds that for the first time, police, fire and emergency medical dispatchers will be under the same roof at the 11 MetroTech Center headquarters.
With the VESTA system, there is a new mapping function that will pinpoint a callers’ location, knowing the difference between “42nd St. in Manhattan, or 42nd St. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, or 42nd St. in Sunnyside, Queens,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to the Daily News.
Find out what's happening in Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hillwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The Daily News also says that now callers will only have to speak with one operator, instead of three, saving precious time in an emergency. So far, the report says, they have received 30,000 calls since Dec. 5.
