Special Report on Emergency Communications Details Modernization's Challenges

This Special Report on Emergency Communications details the challenges of modernizing systems like 911, and other hurdles to further improving public safety. The six articles by Communications Daily journalists are the result of months of research, interviews, document reviews and public-records requests.

Matt Daneman reports that enhanced 911 services are almost universally the norm but aren't fully rolled out and may never be. Some rural areas may never get E-911, he writes. See 1904220036.

Other areas that are more densely populated are introducing next-generation 911, an even more advanced suite of emergency technology services like texting instead of calling in emergencies. But when states use fees consumers are charged for 911 for other purposes, NG-911 rollout lags because there's less money for it. Adam Bender's article on New Jersey's fee diversion illustrates this. See 1904230021.

At the federal level, the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai has focused on some emergency communications issues. Howard Buskirk reports that Pai sees himself as a champion in this area. Others want more action. See 1904240039.

A year after gathering data on multilingual emergency alerts, the FCC doesn't appear likely to act to make such alerts more widespread, Monty Tayloe reports. Few stations commonly transmit multilingual alerts. See 1904240021.

After a government official's misstep last year triggered public panic of a potential looming missile attack on Hawaii, Jimm Phillips investigated how the state has since been putting safeguards in place to prevent a repeat. The contingency plans will help prevent a repeat, but some want further action. See 1904240033.

And back at the FCC, Jonathan Make documented how the agency and its Public Safety Bureau routinely issued documents on emergency communications late in the day. Experts who reviewed Communications Daily's database on this practice said the regulator is potentially shortchanging the public by releasing things after FCC experts have left for the day. See 1903250005.