**LEAD STORY**
The New York City Police Department unveiled its new $156 million super 911 emergency system on Tuesday at the NYPD's new Metro Tech Complex in Brooklyn. The new Enhanced 911 system is said to be the most advanced in the world.
The general contractor for the installation of the system was SHL International Public Safety Group. They said that the system is the largest and most complex public safety system in the world.
One feature that will be new to the 911 operators will be the instantaneous information of the caller's location and phone number. This is not a new feature, but new to New York City. The main new feature is the speed in which calls will be answered. Most 911 systems allow a 911 operator to answer another call after a ten second delay. New York's system has only a two second delay per call per operator. The system also has a very advanced back-up system.
In 1995, ten million calls were made to New York City's 911 system. Police officials say that number increases by 10 to 12 percent each year.
The new system was implemented on an experimental basis in the borough of Staten Island on December 18th. On Tuesday, the system went on-line in all of New York City's five boroughs. Due to the large size and scope of the new system, it is being implemented in three phases: telephone, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and radio.
The telephone system portion has now gone on-line. In March, the new CAD system will be implemented. It is said that the new CAD system will allow communication between different NYC agencies. For example, the Fire Department will be able to send a computer message to the appropriate Police Department dispatcher to request NYPD cars to block off a certain intersection during a fire. The computer-aided dispatch system will also give instant information regarding past incidents at a certain location.
In April, the NYPD's radio system will be upgraded. In June, Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) will begin to be installed in city police cars. The MDT's will be able to give police officers information about incidents that they are responding to.