ANCHORAGE (AP) ‹ The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved a $10.4 million contract to upgrade the city's 911 system.
The 10-year contract has been awarded to Alaska Communications Systems to install, support and maintain the system.
The upgrade will include improved network services, better work stations for dispatchers and better map display equipment for the Anchorage Police Department and the Anchorage Fire Department.
The new system will provide more timely and accurate routing and transfer of 911 calls and more accurate determination of caller locations, including when people call from cellular phones.
Problems with the current system were brought to the forefront when former state public safety commissioner Glenn Godfrey was shot and killed at his Eagle River home. The woman who shot Godfrey then shot Godfrey's wife, Patti Godfrey, four times before turning the gun on herself.
Severely wounded and in danger of bleeding to death, Patti Godfrey spent 48 minutes on the phone with 911 dispatchers before police finally located her home.
The 911 dispatcher ignored Godfrey's instructions and sent police to the address suggested by the computer. But the address suggested by the computer didn't exist.
