Dutchess County Executive William R. Steinhaus announced today the County’s grant application to the New York State 9-1-1 Board, for the second round of the Expedited Deployment Funding Grant for it’s Emergency Response Center in the amount of $894,471.
 
County Executive Steinhaus said, “Our effort to obtain this funding will benefit the county’s goal to complete my initiative to receive and respond to all 9-1-1 cellular calls at our County 9-1-1 Center.  It will also enhance emergency efforts already under way in Dutchess such as a much needed 2nd police radio frequency while implementing the next phase of Enhanced 9-1-1 technology.  This will allow us to provide the best possible services to our community.”

If approved, the funding will assist Dutchess County’s 9-1-1 Center to implement Phase II wireless 9-1-1 service.   Phase II service provides the method to determine the origin of cell phone 9-1-1 calls.

Funds being requested in Round 2 will go towards:

• upgrade of the emergency telephone system;
• upgrade of the computer system at the County’s Backup Dispatch Center;
• upgrading the recording system to allow for the recording of the wireless trunks;
• implementation of an Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) system.

The decision on the application will be made at the February 2, 2005 meeting of the New York State 9-1-1 Board.

In June 2004, Dutchess County was awarded funding in the amount of $177,087 in Round 1 of the Expedited Deployment Funds.  This provided funding to purchase software which assists in identifying the geographic location of 9-1-1 calls from cellular users to the County’s Emergency Response Center.