911 no joke for Clark County officials

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (WDTN) - Millions of people dial 911 every year. It was a system based on a simple concept according to Sheriff Gene Kelly.

"The 911 system was built on the premise of landlines and that's how it's suppose to work. When you dial 911 your home phone number would show up on the screen."

The Clark County Sheriff said the county needs to keep up with technology. "Land lines are disappearing, cell phones now are the norm in most households," Kelly said. He also adds people use mobile phones as their only phone and has the data to prove it.

"Eighty six percent of all the calls that we get in Clark county are from cell phones."

He said dispatchers have a hard time trying to locate people with cell phones. So Kelly is trying to change the way Clark county does business.

"And we have a very active campaign right now to get all Clark county residents to call in, e-mail, give us their cell phone numbers and we attach that cell phone number to an address."

Kelly said they're not going to sell your information or give it to anyone. He figured having the information will make the process of getting to you during an emergency go alot faster.

"We can locate most cellphones by triangulating of the towers but all of that takes valuable minutes and in an emergency those minutes are precious."

Call the Clark County Sheriff's Department at (937) 521-2050 to sign up.