In the United States, the first catalyst for a nationwide emergency telephone number gained momentum in 1957 when the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended use of a single number for reporting fires nationwide.
In 1967, the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended that a “single number should be established” nationwide for reporting emergency situations. The use of different telephone numbers for each type of emergency was determined to be contrary to the purpose of a single, universal number. Other Federal Government agencies and various governmental officials also supported and encouraged the recommendation. As a result of the immense interest in this issue, the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders turned to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a solution. In 1968, the FCC and AT&T announced that it would establish the digits 9-1-1 as the emergency code throughout the U.S.
Congress backed AT&T’s proposal and passed legislation allowing use of only the numbers 9-1-1 when creating a single emergency calling service, thereby making 9-1-1 a standard emergency number nationwide. Senator Rankin Fite completed the first 911 call in Alabama.
In early 1977, Roger Reinke, program director for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), visited the Chicago police department to observe the new fully featured 9-1-1 system. Illinois Bell Telephone (IBT) built and installed the advanced “selective call routing” system. Mr Reinke managed an agreement with Illinois Bell to hold a conference in Chicago, using Chicago’s sophisticated 9-1-1 system as the center of focus.
NTIA sponsored three national 9-1-1 meetings in an effort to create industry awareness of 9-1-1 and collect information on emergency number systems currently in use. At the close of the final conference, Jeff Rogerson (production manager of Illinois Bell) and Mr. Reinke met with Don Gordon of Illinois and James Greene and James Crooks of Wisconsin, to discuss how a new organization could be formed to continue the work of NTIA and implement 9-1-1 as a national number for the country.
At the Elburn, Illinois fire department, in the fall of 1981, Illinois organized a 9-1-1 state chapter that became the founding chapter of NENA. The state committee (consisting of Greene, Crooks, Reinke, Rogerson, Gordon, and others) planned the first NENA conference, to be held at Pheasant Run in St. Charles, Illinois. To accomplish the goal of “One Nation, One Number,” NENA set out to foster the technological advancement, availability, and implementation of a universal emergency telephone system.
Members of NENA are professionals in the 9-1-1 industry involved in the planning, organizing, staffing and directing of public safety emergency communications systems. Membership also includes persons from the business sector who are involved in the design, manufacture, sale, service, etc. of systems to be used in public safety emergency systems. Today, NENA has over 7500 members organized into chapters across the U.S. and affiliate chapters in foreign countries.
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