In Korea, a single emergency number, such as 911 of the USA and 999 of the UK, does
not exist. This issue became highly controversial, when the Sewol Ferry Sinking disaster
occurred last year. So, the Korean government has planned to adopt a single emergency
number, integrating 112 of the Police, 119 of the Fire and Ambulance, 122 of the Korean
Coast Guard, and many other emergency numbers. However, the integration plan recently
proposed by the Ministry of Public Safety Security seems to be, what is called, a “partial
integration model” which repeals the 122 number, but still maintains 112, 119, and 110
respectively. In this context, the study looks into USA’s (diverse) 911 operating system, and
subsequently tries to draw general features or characteristics. Further, the research attempts
to derive policy implication from the general features. If the proposed partial integration
model reflects the policy implications, the model can virtually operate like the 911 system
– i.e. a single emergency number system - creating inter-operability between responding
agencies such as police, fire, and ambulance, even though it is not a perfect integration
model.
The features drawn are ① integration of emergency call-taking, ② functional separation
of call-taking and dispatching, ③ integration of physical facilities for call-taking and
dispatching, and ④ professional call-takers and dispatchers. Moreover, the policy implications
derived from the characteristics are ① a user-friendly system – fast but accurate responses,
② integrated responses to accidents, ③ professional call-taking and dispatching & objective and comprehensive risk assessment, and finally ④ active organizational learning in emergency
call centers. Considering the policy implications, the following suggestions need to be applied
to the current proposed plan:
1. Emergency services’ systems should be tightly linked and connected in a systemic way
so that they can communicate and exchange intelligence with one another.
2. Public safety answering points (call centers) of each emergency service should share
their education and training modules, manuals, etc. Common training and manuals are
also needed for inter-operability.
3. Personal management to enable-long term service in public safety answering points (call
centers) should be established as one of the ways to promote professionalism.