The case for South Sound 911 Antiquated, disjointed system can waste lifesaving minutes

I have been shot!”

Those chilling words from a Pierce County sheriff’s deputy crackled through heavy static over the department’s radio network on a cold December night.

The problem: No one knew which deputy said them or where he was located in this 1,800-square-mile county.

“Which unit?” the dispatcher replied. “County, which unit has been shot?”

There was no answer. Emergency dispatchers quickly ordered a roll call of units on duty. The only way to figure out who needed help was by a time-consuming process of elimination.

It took several agonizing minutes for dispatchers to determine that Sgt. Nick Hausner and Deputy Kent Mundell both lay gravely wounded in a house near Eatonville after a drunken man ambushed them. Finally, aid was on the way.

Many details of the December 2009 shooting that claimed Mundell’s life were recounted in the media, but most people don’t realize this was another example of how our patchwork radio networks in the region cost precious time that could save the lives of our first responders and the people they protect.

That’s why we’re asking voters to approve Pierce County Proposition 1 on the Nov. 8 ballot. The brave men and women who protect us day and night should have the best communications equipment to do their jobs safer, faster and more efficiently.

The communications issues in the Eatonville tragedy were not even that unusual. Law enforcement officers and firefighters throughout the area have trouble with radio communications on a daily basis – with sometimes disastrous results.

In August, a serial bank robber struck again at a bank along Meridian in Milton. The robber took off in a black truck. Edgewood’s police chief was in a business across the street but didn’t know about the incident because the Edgewood and Milton departments are dispatched by different agencies.

Bank employees reported the robbery, and Fife and Milton police officers took off in pursuit. Pierce County sheriff’s deputies heard the activity on the police scanner and asked for the direction of the pursuit. By the time the three agencies got an update from their separate dispatch centers, the pursuit had already gone through Milton, Edgewood and part of unincorporated Pierce County and was heading into Puyallup, which has its own dispatch and radio system.

Because the four pursuing police agencies could not communicate on one common dispatch channel:

 • The Edgewood chief who was across the street didn’t know a robbery occurred until well after the incident.

 • The sheriff’s deputies were unable to coordinate assistance for the pursuing Fife and Milton officers.

 • There was no ability to quickly ask Puyallup police to intercept the robber as he entered their city at a high rate of speed.

 • Dispatchers from three jurisdictions were calling each other on telephone lines to try and get updated information for their officers.

The serial bank robber got away.

Fire agencies encounter similarly frustrating and dangerous conditions. In early September, West Pierce Fire & Rescue arrived at the scene of a major house fire in Lakewood amid reports of the homeowner still trapped inside.

Two crews of firefighters entered the house and began to attack the fire, struggling against heavy smoke and high heat. Medic crews located the badly burned homeowner in the back of the house and rushed him to the hospital while the remaining crews battled the blaze.

At this point, the command officer realized the fire was quickly getting worse. Multiple radio calls were made ordering the interior crews to evacuate the building. Answers from the firefighters were either nonexistent or garbled so badly the command officer could not determine if they were acknowledging him or desperately seeking help.

“Fire Comm, were you able to understand Engine 22?” the command officer asked dispatchers.

“Negative, sir.”

It turns out that only one crew heard the order. As that crew prepared to exit, the commanding officer sent them back in to get the other crew.

Once inside a burning building, the radio is a firefighter’s only lifeline to the outside. It is the only way to learn of changing conditions that can put their lives at risk.

Here’s one more example: In late 2009, a transformer explosion sent a power surge through the regional fire dispatch center in Lakewood known as Fire Comm. The electrical equipment that manages the 911 telephone lines was heavily damaged. Following protocol, the dispatchers quickly transferred the phone lines to the Tacoma Fire Dispatch center, and dispatchers were sent to the Tacoma center to receive 911 calls.

While the transfer of phones was quick and effective, there was no ability to transfer radio communications between the two centers. For the next 36 hours, dispatchers took 911 calls at Tacoma Dispatch, and then had to make an additional phone call to a dispatcher at Fire Comm to relay the information.

Without complete redundancy of 911 phone lines and radio communications, emergency calls for police and fire are greatly delayed.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We’ll leave the last word with Lisa Mundell, widow of the deputy who was killed on that tragic December night near Eatonville.

“Kent used to talk about how vulnerable he and his fellow deputies felt in the field,” she said. “Their radio equipment is inadequate, and coordinating emergency calls among eight dispatch centers costs them precious time in circumstances when every second matters. It’s clear the system is broken.

“I strongly support South Sound 911,” she added, “so we can fix these problems by building a seamless communications system that improves safety for first responders and the people they protect.”

Paul A. Pastor is the elected sheriff of Pierce County. Larry Nelson is chairman of the Central Pierce Board of Fire Commissioners and president of the Pierce County Fire Commissioners Association.