Clarifying the county's

9-1-1 emergency system To the Editor: I am happy to answer questions raised by D. Sue Decker in her letter in the Township Journal of Aug. 25. Properly handling emergency communications from our hearing impaired community has always been a concern for the people managing the 9-1-1 system throughout New Jersey and the United States. Standards have been set by the FCC and met by all Sussex County Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in receiving text messages. The 9-1-1 console equipment in place in each of the six Sussex County PSAPs can receive and send text messages to people equipped with TTY (Text Telephone aka TDD - Telephone Device for the Deaf). Emergency telecommunicators receive basic training on how to handle text messaging and it is a recommended part of their annual in-service training. Text messaging from those TTY cell phones currently available on the market can seamlessly be answered and responded to by telecommunicators once the cellular providers have their systems up and running. Once the geo-positioning equipment is in-place for all cellular providers, whether the cell phone is hearing-based use or TTY capable, the system will be able to determine the location of the caller, receive the request for assistance and provide appropriate assistance. It is each cellular provider's responsibility to bring the voice and or data messaging to each PSAP. Some cellular providers have their equipment in place and others will be coming on-line over the next year. I hope that this answers the concerns of our hearing impaired community. Eskil S. Danielson. Director - Sussex County Division of Emergency Management