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ALABAMA 1968

2006-08-13 03:11:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

The History of 9-1-1
http://www.sarpy.com/911/history_of_9-1-1.htm


The first implementation of 911 was in Haleyville, Alabama in January 1968.Back then, the town had a population of about 4,500 and was serviced by the Alabama Telephone Company . Weeks before, Congress had declared that 911 should be the national emergency number. A debate broke out in Haleyville when trying to decide where to route the calls – to the police station? the fire department? the local hospital? Officials finally settled on the Haleyville Police Department and a special red telephone.

On February 16, 1968, the first 911 call was made by Alabama Speaker of the House, Rankin Fite, to Tom Bevill, a U.S. Representative where they exchanged greetings. The technology of 911 has changed over time, but Haleyville’s call proved the concept worked.

2006-08-13 10:19:35 · answer #2 · answered by Big-Sister 4 · 1 0

Development of 9-1-1
The push for the development of a nationwide emergency telephone number came in 1957 when the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended a single number to be used for reporting fires. In 1967 the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single number that can be used nationwide for reporting emergencies. The burden then fell on the Federal Communications Commission, which then met with AT&T in November 1967 in order to come up with a solution.

In 1968, a solution was agreed upon. AT&T had chosen the number 911, which met the requirements that it be brief, easy to remember, dialed easily, and that it worked well with the phone systems in place at the time. How the number 911 itself was chosen is not well known and is subject to much speculation. However, many feel that the number 911 was chosen to be similar to the numbers 2-1-1 (long distance), 4-1-1 (information, later called "directory assistance"), and 6-1-1 (repair service), which had already been in use by AT&T since 1966. Also, it was necessary to ensure that the 9-1-1 number was not dialed accidentally, so 9-1-1 made sense because the numbers "9" and "1" are on opposite ends of the keypad of a phone.

Furthermore, the North American Numbering Plan in use at the time established rules for which numbers can be used for area codes and exchanges. At the time, the middle digit of an area code had to be either a 0 or 1, and the first two digits of an exchange could not be a 1. At the telephone switching station, the second dialed digit was used to determine if the number was long distance or local. If the number had a 0 or 1 as the second digit, it was long distance, and it was a local call if it was any other number. Thus, since the number 911 was detected by the switching equipment as a special number, it could be routed appropriately. Also, since 911 was a unique number, never having been used as an area code or service code (although at one point GTE used test numbers such as 11911), it fit into the phone system easily.

AT&T announced the selection of 9-1-1 as their choice of the three-digit emergency number at a press conference in the Washington (DC) office of Indiana Rep. J. Edward Roush, who had championed Congressional support of a single emergency number.

Just 35 days after AT&T's announcement, on February 16, 1968, the first-ever 9-1-1 call was placed by Alabama Speaker of the House Rankin Fite from Haleyville, Alabama City Hall to U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill (Dem.) at the city's police station. Bevill reportedly answered the phone with "Hello." Attending with Fite was Haleyville mayor James Whitt. At the police station with Bevill was Gallagher and Alabama Public Service Commission director Eugene "Bull" Connor (formerly the Birmingham police chief involved in federal desegregation). Fitzgerald was at the ATC central office serving Haleyville, and actually observed the call pass through the switching gear, as the mechanical equipment clunked out "9-1-1." The phone used to answer the first 911 call, a bright red model, is now in a museum in Haleyville, while a duplicate phone is still in use at the police station. Some accounts of the event claim that, "Later, the two (Bevill and Fite) said they exchanged greetings, hung up and 'had coffee and doughnuts.'"

In 1973, the White House urged nationwide adoption of 911. In 1999, President Bill Clinton signed the bill that designated 911 as the nationwide emergency number. Even though 9-1-1 was introduced in 1968, the network still does not completely cover some rural areas of the United States and Canada.

2006-08-13 10:16:15 · answer #3 · answered by giggleglit 6 · 1 0

1968 in Alabama

2006-08-13 10:32:15 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 1 0

ALABAMA STARTED IT IN 1968

2006-08-13 10:17:43 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Strangely enough, Alabama

Google is your friend

2006-08-13 10:13:35 · answer #6 · answered by ceprn 6 · 1 0

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