A new 911 phone system for Jefferson City and Cole County is scheduled to be in place by Nov. 15.
At the 911 Advisory Board on Thursday, Jefferson City Police Capt. Eric Wilde said AOS, a communications company out of Columbia, has been selected for the project. He said new computers have been ordered and installation should begin in mid-October.
The new system will be used at the main 911 Center in the basement of the police station on Monroe Street and at the backup 911 center at Fire Station No. 3 off Missouri 179.
Twenty people work at the 911 Center run by the police department.
By November, officials said the current 12-year-old system, last upgraded in 2002-03, will no longer be serviceable if major repairs are needed.
The cost for the new upgrades is more than $297,000. There is money in the city budget to pay for the improvements.
Since the county pays 25 percent of the cost to operate the system each year, police officials came up with the county making a one-time payment of $75,000 for their share of the upgrades. The money will come from the sales tax that funds the ambulance service.
Wilde said they've been looking at making this a "next generation' 911 system. "Next generation" refers to a national initiative to make 911 centers more wireless communications friendly.
He said the new system will allow dispatchers to better locate cell phone calls.
Officials also hope it will allow the public to transmit text, images and video to the center, but they're not sure how soon that will be ready.
Along with the 911 upgrade, Wilde said an upgrade is being considered on radios to allow patrol cars to be able to talk with other law enforcement agencies. He all the entities using the 911 system are working on a plan on how the system is to be used in a disaster or emergency.
The 911 Center dispatches for the police department, Cole County Sheriff's Department and the fire protection districts in the county. It gets the initial calls for the countywide ambulance service, which are forwarded to the ambulance service.
Wilde added they had purchased an antenna for the Binder Lake area to improve communications there, but a tower site is still needed.