Some Twin Ports 911 calls reach wrong dispatch center

DOUGLAS COUNTY, MN — When you call 911 you probably expect to get routed to the correct dispatch center. But that doesn’t always happen in the Twin Ports when you call on a cell phone. Sometimes the county you call from isn’t the county that answers your emergency call.

The Douglas County 911 Communications Center receives hundreds of call day. But a quarter of the time the emergency calls are coming from an area this emergency service doesn’t cover.

“I don’t have an specific number on how many calls we transfer over but I would say on a typical day depending on how many calls we get one in four calls from elsewhere,” said Danielle Miller, Douglas County Communications Center Supervisor.

The problem originates from cell phones. Cell phones direct 911 calls to a dispatch centers based on the cell tower the call comes into. Sometimes that tower isn’t in the same county as where the caller is calling from.

“It happens all the time just because of the terrain,” said Miller. “Duluth is up here and we’re in the valley. We hit their towers. If they are calling here the signal comes down and they hit our towers.

Being right across the bridge the cell tower on Johnson and 6th Street in Superior  takes in many of the Duluth calls transferring them to Douglas County. But knowing that, Douglas County Dispatch is usually wary of 911 calls from that tower.

“We’ve done it so much that we can tell by what tower we are getting it from if its going to be our call or a Duluth call,” said Miller.

Miller said the fix is simple.

“Our phones are equipped for a one button transfer,” said Miller. “As soon as we find out address of the emergency where it’s happening at,  if it’s not a Superior incident we transfer it over to Duluth. They do the same for us.”

Miller said misdirected calls shouldn’t really affect response time.

“It maybe adds another 20 seconds for us to figure out that it’s a Duluth call,” said Miller.

Miller doesn’t think the problem will ever be corrected.

“I don’t think it’s ever going to be fixable,” said Miller.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office said they also get numerous 911 calls from the Wisconsin side of the Twin Ports.

Read the story here.

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