COMPLIANT WITH THE LATEST NG-911 LAWS?
Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act are two FCC statutes designed to make it easier for callers to reach 911 and for emergency services to locate callers in a large facility like an office building, hotel or university campus.
Kari’s Law requires that any building with a multi-line telephone system (MLTS) must allow callers to dial 911 directly (without needing to dial “9” to get an outside line, for example).
When a 911 call is made, the system must also send a notification to a central location like a front desk or security kiosk and include a callback number and information about the caller’s location.
PSAPs/ECCs, businesses, and educational facilities do not need to change their MLTS to comply with Kari’s Law regulations.
RAY BAUM’S Act requires that a “dispatchable location” is passed along with every 911 call to a PSAP/ECC, regardless of the technology platform. This includes 911 calls from an MLTS.
A dispatchable location means a validated street address of the person calling and additional information such as a room or floor number.
However, these rules do not apply to wireless providers who are subject to separate location accuracy requirements and benchmarks.
Alyssa’s Law is also now in effect in Florida, New Jersey, and now in Texas that requires the staff to wear mobile ‘panic buttons’ specifically in schools by 2025-2026 school year to provide critical situational awareness direct to public safety in the event of an emergency.
ADDRESSING ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATIONS
An active shooter is defined by the FBI and DHS as an individual attempting to kill people in a populated or confined area, usually with firearms and often choosing victims randomly.
Most incidents occur in soft targets with minimal security.
These events typically last 10–15 minutes and end with police intervention (46%), the shooter’s suicide (40%), surrender (14%), or rarely, escape.
To improve safety, legislation like Kari’s Law (direct 911 dialing and onsite notification) and the Ray Baum’s Act (dispatchable emergency location) has been enacted to protect schools and public buildings.
WHAT IS A DISPATCHABLE LOCATION?
Dispatchable location is location information delivered to the emergency services with a 911 call that consists of the street address of the caller and additional information necessary to identify the exact location of the caller including the suite, apartment, floor, room, and/or office numbers, and phone extension.
Dispatchable location is also known as “the door to knock on.”
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