Tagged: 911 calls

  Voters today went to the polls to decide municipal elections across the state.  KBIA reporters are in the field and following races  in Columbia and Jefferson city.  Check this live blog regularly to get results and pictures from watch parties.

Polls are closed, but you can check out our Columbia voter's guide here. The rest of our election coverage is here.

The latest numbers for Boone County votes are available here.  Cole County voters can check on the results here.

On April 2, Boone County residents vote on whether the county should increase its sales tax to fund improvements to its 911 dispatch center.

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Dan Atwill said there haven’t been any major changes to the center since 1990s. Currently in Boone County, 130 calls each month take more than 60 seconds to answer, while industry standard dictates that most calls are processed within 15 seconds.

A recent study by researchers at Chicago’s Roosevelt University found that between 2007 and 2011, the number of deaths from heroin overdose in the state of Missouri more than tripled. In 2007, fewer than 70 people died from heroin overdose. In 2011, that number ballooned to 244. 

Studies show most accidental overdoses happen in the presence of others. KBIA’s Alexandra Olgin takes us to a rally in Jefferson City on Tuesday supports a bill that could encourage overdose witnesses to be a Good Samaritan and call 911.

The 911 Services administrator for Stoddard County in southeast Missouri is calling attention to a growing problem of children playing with discarded cellphones and accidentally calling 911.

The Dexter Daily Statesman reports that Carol Moreland says parents are apparently unaware that dialing random numbers from a cellphone or landline phone will eventually reach the 911 dispatch center, causing a distraction for dispatchers and emergency personnel.

Residents can soon expect some changes to how Boone County handles 9-1-1 calls.

Phone companies would have to help Missouri law enforcement agencies locate cellphone callers in emergency situations, under legislation moving through the state Senate.