From the perspective of the person placing it, a typical 9-1-1 call goes something like this: the phone is answered, standard questions are asked, details are gathered and emotions are soothed. Assistance is sent. The caller has a singular goal–to get help–and expects, reasonably, that the dispatcher shares his interests.

When a gunman was prowling the halls of Virginia Tech University on April 16, 2007, on a shooting rampage that left 33 people dead, dozens of students and staff sent texts to 911 trying to get help.

On March 11, the day a tsunami damaged the Santa Cruz Harbor, more people registered their cell phones in the county’s emergency notification system than in the past three months, officials at the Santa Cruz County Regional 911 center said.

Jackson County is upgrading its reverse 9-1-1 system after it experienced difficulties during last year’s fires in Ashland and Medford that destroyed several homes.

The Kanawha County Metro 911 center had three vendors visit today and demonstrate their proposals for a new county wide dispatch system.

The Daley administration is preparing to launch a dramatic change in 911 dispatching.

A dropped call in a police dispatch center can mean the loss of crucial seconds in an emergency situation.