California Project Wins National Recognition

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I wanted to share this “real world” example of how technologies are central to our society. Perhaps you can use this information in one of your classroom lessons to emphasize the relevance of the subjects you are teaching. Congratulations to the California Technology Agency’s Public Safety Communications Office on their outstanding service to Californians and on winning this national award!

“Technology is vital to the efficient delivery of government services, and a significant source of innovation in the way we serve and protect Californians,” said Secretary of California’s Technology Agency Carlos Ramos. “RED and California’s other successful projects show that government can accomplish great things through collaboration, innovation and persistence.”

About the Project

California’s Routing on Empirical Data (RED) Project was one of ten exemplary initiatives chosen as recipients for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers’ (NASCIO) 2011 Recognition Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Information Technology in State Government. Californiaprojects were also selected as finalists in four of the other nine categories.

The RED Project enhances the efficiency of routing wireless 9-1-1 calls, shortening emergency response times and improving the delivery of wireless 9-1-1 calls. The RED Project was initiated by the California Technology Agency’s 9-1-1 Division to address the explosion in wireless calls made to the 9-1-1 system, which overburdened the state’s 9-1-1 call centers in 2007, causing more than 42 percent of wireless 9-1-1 calls to receive a busy signal.

The RED Project developed collaborative partnerships involving more than 500 private, state and local government stakeholders in all ofCalifornia’s 58 counties. This approach allows the California Highway Patrol and local government public safety answering points (PSAP) to determine which jurisdiction should take the call, and to route the call there the first time, dramatically improving access and speeding call response times.

With the RED Project, wireless calls receiving a busy signal or failing to be delivered to a PSAP decreased from 42.4 percent in 2007 to 4.5 percent in 2010 while the total number of wireless 9-1-1 calls increased from 11.6 million to 14.2 million. The ultimate beneficiaries of the RED Project areCaliforniacitizens who can quickly get through to emergency responders, shaving precious minutes from emergency response times and increasing the chance of survival for a person in cardiac arrest or a family whose house is on fire.

The RED Project’s winning nomination is available at: http://www.nascio.org/awards/nominations2011/2011/2011CA1-Collaboration-RED_Final.pdf

California’s other projects selected as finalists were:

  • The California Courts Protective Order Registry, for the Data Information and Knowledge Management category
  • DataCenterOptimization, for theEnterpriseInformation Technology Management Initiatives Category
  • The California Mobile Development Program, for the Fast Track Solutions category
  • The e-Commerce Portal Infrastructure, for the Risk Management Initiatives category