fp Turks and Caicos

According to Juliette Gooding, "Communication is key to a successful 911 response." Gooding, a 911 expert, came to the TCI in 2006 to evaluate our current 911 response system. "The biggest problem I discovered was the natural breakdown in communication due to the lack of infrastructure," she explained.

The current 911 system relies on a telephone and a dedicated officer in the police station downtown. When a call comes in, the officer tries to assess the emergency and then calls the appropriate team to respond; be it fire, ambulance or police.

The problem with this system starts with the lack of communication and equipment available to properly respond. First, there is a shortage of the physical radios necessary for all departments to communicate with each other. Second, there are not sufficient repeaters across the island to offer radio service in all parts of Providenciales. In fact, there are many pockets around the island with no service at all.

Third, and possibly the more complicated problem to solve, is the lack of street names and house numbers to accurately respond to an emergency location. For example, if a person from Long Bay calls into to the 911 number and says they live in Long Bay, it is almost impossible for the team to respond to the exact location.

Gooding has been challenged with the task of developing a comprehensive 911 system, which will allow not only quicker responses, but also more efficient services. Gooding has already hired a staff of nine to man the 911 telephones and function and the communications “heart” of the emergency services across the island. She is currently training these individuals in a variety of areas, including how to collect the information properly from a caller, offering advice in all emergency situations over the telephone, as well as a large variety of protocols for every emergency situation which can arise.

The goal of the new 911 Call Center will be to enhance coordination and dissemination of information, in order to respond more quickly and wholly to the emergency situations which arise each and every day.

Of course this is an amazingly large undertaking, which requires a great deal of support both from the government and individual emergency service organizations as well as the financial capital to get it up and running. Although the department is funded and supported by the Ministry of Home Affairs, they lack the funds required to set up the infrastructure for a fully functional emergency service system in Providenciales.

Gooding along with experts in the field of communications, have done an extensive evaluation of the requirements needed in order to build the new system. In an attempt to make the system operational as quickly possible, Gooding has broken the development into stages, making it possible to get the basic system off the ground right away.

Gooding requires $95,000 to complete Phase 1 of the new 911 system; another $35,000 would be required to expand to all islands. This would include all physical equipment including the repeaters, radios, computers, telephones and recording systems which are needed to ensure optimal communication between all parties and residents on the island of Providenciales. While they already received support from Digicel to set-up their office as well as some of the equipment, there is still a great deal to be raised.

To help kick off the fundraising efforts, the Bankers Association, which represents all of the nine banks operating in the Turks and Caicos Islands, donated $10,000 towards this goal, taking her one step closer to helping the residents of Provo receive the proper 911 system they require.

Mr. Tony Faessler, President of the association said: “As an Association, as individual banks, as members of the business community and as persons who live, work and have families here in the TCI, we feel strongly that safety and security are paramount.”

Upon presenting the check, Faessler said, “We hereby fully endorse and support the 911 programme and we hope that our initial $10,000 pledge will be supplemented by our members, other businesses and persons in the community in order that this programme can finally come to fruition. We are proud and happy to make this contribution to 911, but more importantly, to devise a system by which other sectors, business and even individuals can help support 911.”

Beyond their donation, the association has assisted in creating an account at the First Caribbean bank, which is being managed by CrimeStoppers for the 911 project, where individuals can donate funds which will go towards purchasing the necessary equipment and training support.

Gooding is very grateful for the support of the Bankers Association, but now she is looking for further donations adding up to the remaining $85,000 it will take to set-up Phase 1. Gooding says once she has collected the funds, she can have the system installed and up and running within a matter of weeks. She is hopeful that by the time she completes the training of the staff, she will have been able to raise the funds to start accepting calls by September of this year.