PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s antiquated 911 system will be rebuilt in the next few years to improve responses to emergencies, cut costs and take advantage of new cellphone technologies, the head of a state panel that oversees the 911 system said Wednesday.
The current 33 answering centers now use technology from the 1970s and 1980s, are connected by old copper-wire phone lines and have trouble communicating with each other, said Ted Rufledt Jr., of Rapid City, chair of the South Dakota 911 Coordination Board. South Dakota is joining with other states to develop a Next Generation 911 system that will be based on the same fiber-optic lines used for the Internet and a single operating system that allows dispatch centers to communicate better.
