CHP Finally Unscrambles Locater System for Call Boxes

When emergency call boxes were installed in Orange County in 1987, calls from stranded freeway drivers automatically displayed their locations to dispatchers at the California Highway Patrol.

That is, until September, when the CHP decided to put a new telephone system in its Santa Ana dispatch center, and the automatic location display--

apparently incompatible with the new phones--went dark.

Since Friday, however--5 months and yet a third telephone system later--the location display has been working again.

Both the Orange County Transportation Commission and GTE Cellular Communications Corp., which installed the call boxes, said the system worked well at first, tied to the AT&T; telephone system.

“This worked beautifully for over 8 months, until the CHP decided to modify their phone system,” said Stephen Van Wagoner, project manager with GTE. “When they installed the new telephone system at the dispatch center, the map on the screen would not automatically come up.”

The breakdown presented a problem if, for example, a caller couldn’t speak English or was too excited to give the correct 3-digit identification number for the call box, Van Wagoner said.

But Lynn Roberts, CHP communications analyst, said the only such incident occurred in November with a mute caller. The dispatcher radioed patrol units, which found the man in 15 minutes.

Also, Roberts said, the CHP has a translation service on call 24 hours a day. Even with the locator map working, the CHP verifies locations with callers.

Roberts added that the Los Angeles County call boxes, installed in 1968, have never had an automatic location device.

The CHP’s new phone contract is with Executone Information Services Inc.

“I don’t think it (was) a crisis situation, but we are concerned,” said Todd Murphy, special projects manager with OCTC.

“We’ve had long talks with the CHP,” he said. “I think it was one of two things: Either the vendor didn’t meet the specifications or the specifications were not clear enough.”

Sam Haynes, CHP public affairs officer, said the $56,275 Executone system was removed and another one installed by Capital Telephone for $44,214.

The CHP switched over to the Capital system Friday, Capital Vice President Peter Westbrook said.

Tests have shown that the call box location device is working, he said.