“We had a lot of success with that,” said John
Bryant, president and chief executive officer
of GeoComm. “After Parkland, we decided we
wanted to try to bring what we did at that level
to our backyard.”
GeoComm partnered with the St. Cloud Public
Safety Foundation to implement new technology
at dispatch centers in Stearns, Benton and
Sherburne counties. They then worked with area
school districts to add interior maps of area high
schools, including Apollo, McKinley Area Learning
Center, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Cathedral and Big Lake,
as well as the new Tech and Sartell schools.
Now, if someone calls 911 from inside those
schools, the dispatcher will be able to see the
exact location of the caller, the Saint Cloud
Times reported.
So how does it work?
For years, “consumer locations” used in apps on
cellphones and other devices have continued
to evolve. But 911 dispatch technology
relies on a triangulation of cell towers —
which provides a crude location — and then
information from the cell provider, which is a
bit more accurate than triangulation.
But that location could still be blocks away
from the person calling 911, Brosowsky told a
group of community members recently at the
downtown St. Cloud GeoComm headquarters.
In attendance were U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer and
local officials.
In 2015, the Federal Communications
Commission imposed new rules for wireless
carriers that allow 911 dispatchers to access
consumer locations.