Cash-strapped states raid 911 funds


Isn't this a laugh!?! Americans are getting sodomized by their
government in every known position...and are coming back for
seconds...and thirds...!!!! All this economic "prosperity" brought to
you by:

Wall Street
Outsourcing businesses
A useless heath care system
Inbreed infestation in all levels of government--especially federal
A clueless electorate
The federal reserve
The toleration of elitist secret organizations/societies
A profound piece of *** news media (a.k.a. drive by media)

Solution? It's so easy a fucking cave man can do it!

--------->>> Cull <<<--------

A simple solution that's cost effective, long lasting, and is by far
the best economic on the bench. It is absolutely amazing how easy how
much of bargain a single bullet is in the way of changing the status
quo of business as usual in running our country into the dirt.

Contemplate this should you find yourself in a home invasion, trapped
in your burning home or car waiting for a 911 dispatcher to answer the
phone.





AP IMPACT: Cash-strapped states raid 911 funds

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson, Ap Technology
Writer – Thu Jul 23, 7:12 pm ET

NEW YORK – More than $200 million collected from cell phone users for
upgrades to the 911 system has been diverted in the last two years to
plug state budget holes, keep campaign promises and, in at least one
case, buy police uniforms, an Associated Press analysis has found.

Dispatchers say the diversion of money comes at the expense of
improvements that would give crime and accident victims more
opportunities to reach responders. Someone who has been kidnapped, for
instance, may not be able to talk but might be able to quietly send a
text message or a photo.

Cell phone subscribers in nearly every state pay anywhere from 20
cents to $1.50 a month for what is described in their bills as 911
improvements. In some states, the AP analysis found, less than half
that money is actually going to help emergency dispatchers keep pace
with the features of smart phones.

As states hammered by the recession look around for new ways to
balance their budgets, the 911 money is tempting:

• In New York, only 19 cents of the $1.20 the state collects from each
subscriber each month goes to emergency calling services. The rest
pays for uniforms for the state police, a wireless network for
emergency responders and the state's general expenditures.

• In Wisconsin, a new 75-cent monthly fee was supposed to pay for
ongoing 911 operations and improvements. When the state's deficit
grew, the state decided to divert $100 million in the next two years
to local governments to reduce pressure to raise property taxes.

• In Arizona, lawmakers funneled $25 million from its emergency
telecommunications fund, halving its size, and cut its monthly 911
cell phone fee to 20 cents. As a result, the fund could be out of
money within three years.

"The issue of (fund) raiding has been a trickle for a few years, and
now we're seeing the faucet on full blast," said Dane Snowden, vice
president of external and state affairs at wireless industry group
CTIA.

A highly publicized round of call center upgrades is nearly complete,
allowing 911 dispatchers to automatically pinpoint cell phone callers.
But emergency officials say that's no reason to raid funds set aside
for future upgrades. After all, voice calls are just one of many
things phones can do.

Dispatchers would like the capability to receive photos, videos and
text messages from cell phone users in danger. Photos shot by
witnesses with camera phones have already proved useful in catching
bank robbers and flashers, for instance. Getting those photos to 911
centers — which could get them to police faster — could help solve
crimes.

In several cases in recent years, kidnapping victims have summoned
help by surreptitiously sending text messages. But because they can't
send directly to 911, they've had to use intermediaries.

When David Deganian and a friend were abducted at gunpoint on an
Atlanta street early one morning in 2007, Deganian managed to sneak a
text message to his brother Arman: "We have been kidnapped. Please
call the police and help us."

Later, the friend tried calling 911. The gunmen heard him, interrupted
the call and took the phones away. Luckily, Arman Deganian was awake
to notice the text message. He got the police on the case, and they
rescued his brother and his friend that afternoon.

In a more famous case, a 14-year-old girl in Kershaw County, S.C., was
held in an underground bunker for more than a week before she managed
to send a text message to her mother from the captor's phone.

Upgrading call centers to handle text and video messaging would
require new computer systems, communications lines and staff training,
costing tens of millions of dollars per state, according to the
National Emergency Number Association.

A complete accounting of how 911 money is spent in all states is not
available, partly because most of the money dispatch centers get is
funneled to them by counties. The Federal Communications Commission
has been collecting information from the states at the request of
Congress, and is expected to report its findings soon.

Oregon, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Wisconsin and Tennessee are among
the states that have dipped into their 911 money recently. New York
and Rhode Island have been diverting their funds for at least five
years. States started collecting the funds in the 1990s.

In the fiscal year that ended in June 2008, Rhode Island collected
$19.4 million in 911 fees and used $5.8 million for 911. The rest went
to the state's general fund.

Raiding the funds could reduce the money available for 911 upgrades
even further, by reducing federal grants. After a round of 911 fund
raiding during the previous recession, at the beginning of the decade,
the federal government tightened its grant rules to discourage the
practice.

To elude the federal government's wagging finger, New York is changing
the name of its "Enhanced 911" fee to "Public Safety Communications
Surcharge," to make it clearer that 911 is just one of its purposes.

Other states seem to ignore the grants issue.

Oregon collects 75 cents per cell phone per month. Although its
attorney general's office concluded that federal laws on 911 grants
prohibit using money from wireless bills for purposes other than 911
services, the state took $3 million from an $80 million fund that
mingles wireless and landline fees.

"When people pay their bills, they see that they are paying 75 cents
per telephone line to fund the 911 system. For the Legislature to turn
around and divert some of the money to other purposes is disingenuous.
It's just wrong," said Hasina Squires, a lobbyist who represents
emergency communications officers in Oregon.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski's office and legislative budget officials defended
the decision, citing Oregon's "extraordinary" budget shortfall. They
said they took money from various accounts if they determined that
doing so wouldn't disrupt core functions of those programs.

Tennessee believes it got around the federal restrictions by leaving
the principal in its 911 fund intact and taking out $11 million in
accrued interest in the fiscal year that ended June 2008. The fund had
$54 million left.

"It begs the question: If you have that much money in holding, why is
it still being collected from consumers? It doesn't make any sense,"
CTIA's Snowden said. "The E911 fund is appearing to be an ATM."
.

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