For 911 dispatchers, address mix-up is 'wake-up call'

From the sometimes hysterical voice at the end of the phone line, 911 dispatchers must collect all the information needed to get the right emergency response to the right location fast.

Sending responders to the wrong spot is rare but can be lethal in situations when each moment is critical. To avoid such errors, dispatchers are trained to ask 911 callers for their nearest cross street.

"It's absolutely critical," said Nassau County Det. Lt. Kevin Smith. "In many instances there are many street names that are so common, they appear all over Nassau and Suffolk counties."

The dispatcher who sent responders to the wrong location Nov. 14 did not initially ask for a cross street, as protocol required. Nor did he recognize that his call system indicated Ross' emergency was in Wainscott, not the same address in East Hampton.

In Suffolk County's system, landline calls relay an address automatically, plus nearby cross streets. If calls are wireless, dispatchers can use cell towers to help verify the general location of a caller.

But in either case, said Joe Williams, Suffolk's commissioner for fire, rescue and emergency services, dispatchers are instructed to confirm the addresses callers give and ask for a cross street.

"There are a lot of Oak Streets and a lot of Main Streets in Suffolk County," he said.

In Nassau, the 911 system doesn't provide cross streets when a landline caller's address is automatically relayed. Dispatchers must ask for that information, Smith said, adding that the East Hampton case is a "wake-up call to everybody in that business. You have to be vigilant."