DEPARTMENT of Fire and Emergency Medical Services Commissioner Dennis Mendiola said there is a need to “centralize” 911 emergency calls.
“We are communicating with the Department of Public Safety, CNMI Homeland Security, the governor’s office, and the Legislature to try to centralize 911 calls so that we could eliminate call forwarding and issues regarding delayed response,” he added.
Mendiola said legislation has to be introduced and passed to centralize 911 calls. “A lot of legislators are working on the details of that measure which will require additional funding from the community,” he added. “At this point, we really need to push forward to fix that issue.”
Over four years ago, then-fire commissioner Clyde Norita told Variety that the CNMI had no 911 system.
“All it is is 234-0911. That’s the number, and it has five to six lines, with one more line on Rota and another on Tinian,” said Norita.
“The…system does not direct you to the correct island. It goes to any available line in the 911 phone system. It’s not a 911 system. It’s just a rotary system. And sometimes if people on Saipan call 911 it gets answered on Tinian or Rota.”
Norita said the fire department, the Department of Public Safety and the governor had already discussed transferring the 911 call center to DFEMS so the CNMI could have a “true” 911 system.
Norita also mentioned then-Sen. Sixto Igisomar’s Senate Bill 19-46, “To establish an Enhanced Emergency 911 NextGen 911 Telephone Communications Systems within the CNMI.”
According to the Legislature’s website, the bill was passed by the Senate on July 26, 2016, and was then referred by the House of Representatives to its Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Committee.
