Hunterdon County Department of Public Safety receives state grant funds for Next Generation 9-1-1 system
HUNTERDON COUNTY, NJ – The Hunterdon County Commissioners Tuesday approved a resolution accepting grant funds from the State of New Jersey in the amount of $196,184.43, to be used for Public Safety Answering Point Upgrades, known as the Next Generation 911~Emergency Services IP Network system (ESInet).
Commissioner John Lanza, who serves as the liaison for the Department of Public Safety said, “Migrating to Next Generation 911 has been an important priority for the Department of Public Safety. This upgrade will allow our telecommunicators to more efficiently assist callers in an emergency, including using images and video via text in a world that primarily uses mobile devices.”
The ESInet upgrade will move New Jersey’s aging 911 infrastructure from outdated and unsupported equipment running over copper phone lines to a more secure digital fiber optic network system.
The grant monies will cover costs associated with engineering, equipment, product licensing, installation, and configuration to interface with the County’s existing 911 call handling equipment. Additionally, the grant covers costs associated with the 24/7 annual maintenance for the system.
Additional benefits of the new ESInet system would allow for faster transferring of calls, rerouting of calls, and the ability to transfer calls to Public Safety Answering Points out of state. It would also replace the system which provides Automatic Location Information, for tracing the precise location of a caller.
Finally, texts sent to 911 dispatch will come in through the 911 system, instead of the current internet-based system.
Although it is not in the current phase or project contract, future uses of the ESInet will include being able to share data such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) to interface or radio interface over the communications network.
All call processing equipment expenses for the upgrade are included in the grant, and since the county’s current system is Next Generation compatible, work on the new system can be accomplished with minor updates needed.