
by Megan Schiffres
HEATHSVILLE—The Northumberland board of supervisors on Thursday, July 11, unanimously approved a participation agreement with AT&T to upgrade the county’s emergency response systems to Next Generation 911.
Next Generation 911 is a single network, digital emergency response system that would replace the current multi-network analog system that 911 calls are processed through. With this upgrade, emergency service responders will be able to more accurately and quickly locate emergency calls made from cell phones and will be able to receive texts, images and videos from those in need of assistance.
The cost of these upgrades totals $1,154,935 and will be funded by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA), which began awarding grants…