Most 911 call centers report they are Y2K ready

                    December 21, 1999
                    Web posted at: 10:16 a.m. EST (1516 GMT)

                    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly all of the nation's 911 call centers say they can continue
                    to provide enhanced emergency services -- like pinpointing where a person is calling from
                    -- after the end of the year date change. 

                    The latest survey from the National Emergency Number
                    Association indicates more than 98.5 percent of the
                    centers say their equipment is now Y2K ready. 

                    Those numbers represent a marked increase from the
                    earlier White House report on Y2K preparedness, which
                    said that only half of America's 911 call centers had
                    confirmed that they were ready. 

                    Public safety officials say 911 call centers have stepped
                    up both their compliance and reporting efforts. 

                    "In the interim period, we believe that the vast majority of (public safety answering points)
                    and telephone companies have taken steps to bring their systems up to Y2K compliance,"
                    said Joe Hanna, president of the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. 

                    The emergency number association also has made additional queries about Y2K readiness,
                    even phoning individual sites, garnering responses from 96 percent of the more than 4,360
                    call centers nationwide. 

                    "Sometimes there is a reluctance just to fill out another survey," said Mark Adams,
                    executive director of association. In other cases, centers didn't complete their Y2K
                    compliance efforts until the second half of the year. 

                    In other Y2K news: 

                    • U.S. embassies abroad will stop issuing nonimmigrant visas for the first two working days
                    of the new year and stop issuing immigrant visas for the first two weeks, the State
                    Department's Office of Overseas Citizen Services said Monday. 

                    • New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said today almost the entire police department will be
                    working in his city New Year's Eve. 

                    New Yorkers should "go about their lives as they normally would," he said on CBS' "The
                    Early Show," adding: "We live in a world in which terrorism is a possibility." 

                    • District of Columbia officials said thousands of officers will be in place New Year's
                    weekend. 

                    "Certainly there will be heightened security measures at all government buildings," said
                    D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey. In addition to the Metropolitan Police Department's
                    3,520 officers, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and other federal
                    agencies also will have thousands of personnel on duty. 

                    Federal officials also plan to increase electronic surveillance and security sweeps near
                    major monuments, federal office complexes, and the Ronald Reagan International Trade
                    Center. 

                    On the 911 compliance efforts, all of the call centers say they will be able to perform basic
                    services, like answering calls and dispatching emergency response teams, according to
                    Adams' group. 

                    Centers that did not report being Y2K ready may not have fully fixed problems with "a
                    piece of recording equipment or a mapping program that's helpful but not necessary,"
                    Adams said. 

                    In those instances, callers may have to tell the operator their address instead of the
                    computer immediately spotting it. 

                    Public safety officials say the 911 problems that could arise over the New Year's weekend
                    may have nothing to do with computer or phone systems. Rather, they may result from
                    people wanting to test the emergency system or too many people picking up their phones to
                    make calls at once. 

                    "What everyone is concerned about is that people continue to use 911 responsibly,
                    realizing that it's for true emergencies," Adams said. 

                    Experts also recommend that people keep on hand direct numbers for fire and police
                    departments, and other emergency services in their area. 

                    "It's important that people remember there are direct ways of reaching emergency
                    personnel," said Marsha MacBride, one of the point people for the Federal Communications
                    Commission's Y2K effort.