By late November, HSU will have localized responses to 911 calls, expanded 911 access to the hearing impaired and doubled its dispatch radio capacity.

"Now, a 911 cellular phone call goes to the California Highway Patrol," Dewey said. "Other counties in the south are starting to re-route the 911 calls to a local agency, which might have a better chance of sorting out information and responding."

For example, a 911 caller from Trinidad who offers incomplete information will be better served by a local dispatcher who can interpret "I need help at Redwood" to mean help is required at a park, lane, hospital or college campus.

It is Dewey’s expectation that having emergency 911 calls routed directly to his campus staff will significantly reduce response time.

The old 911 system also limited responses to emergency contacts made by the hearing impaired.

"Before, the hearing impaired had access to the system only through one specific number," Dewey said. “We want to make sure that anyone hearing impaired with only a keyboard can send a message and we can respond.”

Doubling the capacity of the dispatch system marks a significant change to the emergency response capacity. The two new units are linked, meaning information from one can be immediately sent, accessed, prioritized and displayed by the other.

"When something really big is happening, it’s going to make it a lot easier for a second person to collect information and pass it to the main dispatcher," said part-time dispatcher Zan Mendonca. “It speeds up retrieving and accessing data.”

According to customer service supervisor Karyn Hoppe, when "something really big" happened in the past, someone from the front desk went to a side phone and wrote messages on a card or piece of paper. The messages were then passed to the dispatcher to juggle, prioritize and keep track of while coordinating emergency responses.

"We will be able to handle more emergencies on two different frequencies," said Dewey, hopeful that the process will bring order out of potential mayhem.

Down the road, Dewey also hopes to improve the school’s ability to respond to 911 cell phone callers who pass out. To do that, he would like to duplicate a system he’s seen in a pilot program at CSU Long Beach.

"If you make a cell phone (call) on the Long Beach campus, it will display the exact location of the caller on a map on a plasma screen," Dewey said.

HSU does not have the capability to locate cell phone callers and is working on making that happen with those who use the newly installed 5555 on-campus emergency line.

"The 5555 line comes right to us," he said. "But it could be better. If all you can do is crawl, we want to try to get the location to show up on our 911 screen."

The dispatch system has been purchased and installed but is in the process of being personalized to fit campus frequencies, systems and geography.

The estimated cost of the project is $150,000, with approximately 80 percent coming from two grants.

The federal grant of $25,000 wound its way to HSU after going through the state’s Office of Emergency Services and the CSU offices in Long Beach.

The key to the project was the $100,000 grant from the state’s 911 program.

"It was not a competitive program," Dewey said of the state grant. "You had to have a need and a demonstrated plan to improve your capabilities."

The campus is responsible for the remaining costs.

From The Eureka Reporter