From 9-1-1 to FirstNet: How Public-Private Partnerships Help Government Innovate
More than 50 years ago in the tiny city of Haleyville, Alabama, state legislator Rankin Fite placed the first ever 9-1-1 call. Relayed from city hall, the call was answered on a bright red telephone at the Haleyville police station by U.S. Congressman Tom Bevill.
Little did either of them know how instrumental that new technology would be in saving lives for decades to come. An estimated 240 million calls are made to 9-1-1 in the U.S. each year.
But up until just several months before the call from Haleyville was made, the concept of a national emergency telephone number was still a glimmer in the eye of first responders across the country. In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended a "single number should be established" for reporting emergencies nationwide.
In November of that year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met with the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, today known as AT&T, to figure out how such a complex network of emergency call systems could be implemented.
The creation of what became 9-1-1 was a watershed moment for public-private partnerships and stands today as a testament to how commercial innovation could be utilized by the federal government for the public good.
In early 1968, AT&T established 9-1-1 as the universal emergency number throughout the United States. The number was chosen because it was simple and had never been established as an area or service code. Congress quickly passed legislation to codify the emergency number plan.
The system was slow to spread, but about a week after the Haleyville call, on February 22, Nome, Alaska would debut its 9-1-1 system. And another week later, on March 1, AT&T implemented the 9-1-1 system in Huntington, Indiana.
Noting the success of the services in Nome and Huntington, in March of 1973, the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy established a Federal Information Center meant to assist state and local governments with implementing the 9-1-1 system.
Technology hasn’t slowed down since then and now, more than 80 percent of 9-1-1 calls come from wireless devices. The residents of Haleyville would likely think that to be science fiction if you’d have told them back in 1968.
Last year, AT&T continued its commitment to supporting first responders by partnering with the federal government to build and manage FirstNet—the first broadband network dedicated to America’s police, firefighters and emergency medical services.
As we celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the 9-1-1 emergency system, I’m proud to work for a company that’s been helping the government innovate in ways that not only make lives better, but sometimes even save them.