By Larry Sandler, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Original publication date: Feb. 28, 2011

Milwaukee County, Wis. — Milwaukee cell phone users could get quicker responses to their 911 calls when the city takes over fielding such calls within the city limits, the Milwaukee County sheriff ‘s office says.

In his “state of the city” address last week, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett announced that city dispatchers would pick up 911emergency calls from cell phones.

Those calls are now handled by sheriff ‘s dispatchers, who route calls to municipal police and fire departments throughout most of the county. City and suburban dispatchers answer emergency calls that originate from land lines within their own communities. The Fox Point-Bayside dispatching center also handles 911 cell phone calls from those two suburbs.

City officials wanted to take over handling 911 cell phone calls in 2003, but county officials refused, in a dispute that centered on which agency would get millions of state dollars to upgrade its dispatching center.

Since then, however, a growing volume of cell phone calls to the 911 emergency number has slowed response times, as callers explain their emergencies to county dispatchers, get transferred to municipal police and fire dispatchers and then tell their stories again, said Fran McLaughlin, speaking for the sheriff ‘s office.

With the city accounting for nearly half the 550, 000 cell phone calls fielded each year by county dispatchers, it’s quicker for city dispatchers to pick up those calls directly, Sheriff ‘s Inspector Richard Schmidt said in a Nov. 29 memo to the County Board.

Also, the sheriff ‘s office has been using correctional officers and deputies on limited duty – typically those recovering from injuries – to help overloaded dispatchers. Handing over responsibility to the city would eliminate the need to hire more dispatchers, Schmidt wrote.

Barrett’s office said incorrectly last week that the city would handle all 911 calls from cell phones anywhere in the county. McLaughlin, Schmidt and Barrett spokeswoman Jodie Tabak said the sheriff ‘s office would continue to pick up cell phone calls from most suburbs.

Police and AT& T are still working out technical issues in the 911 handover, McLaughlin and Schmidt said.

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