St. John does not have its own 911 call center, and getting assistance for emergencies on St. John can be a complex and timeconsuming process. Emergency calls from St. John are routed to the center on St. Thomas; in the event that dispatchers on St. Thomas are busy, the call is supposed to be automatically rerouted to St. Croix’s 911 center to a “redundant” system, sharing the same information.

Protocol for the Emergency Communication Center for the St. Thomas-St John District is that the 911 dispatcher then calls the Emergency Medical Service (EMS), the police, the fire department, and any other agency as needed, such as the Water and Power Authority if a power pole is hit by a car. None of the emergency responders, including, Fire, Police, St. John Rescue, etc., is authorized to self-deploy, even if an emergency happens when they are close by. This process needs to be more closely examined on an island where travel time from one side to the other can be over 45 minutes. In addition, cell phone users, especially those on the north shore of St. John, have had problems with their calls being picked up by British Virgin Islands phone companies. 911 dispatchers and emergency responders This project involves a territory wide effort to identify opportunities to improve the 911 system and provide a better system for first responders. Territory efforts to enhance the 911 call centers and revive The Street Addressing Initiative (SAI) are being pursued. The goal of the Street Addressing Initiative is to create a street address for every home, business, and other building within the U.S.V.I. A pilot project was completed to test the addressing system and street naming process on each island. On St. John, initial steps to improving the 911 response system include better coordination with private and non-profit organizations, like St. John Rescue, to better integrated into the chain of responders. An education and outreach campaign is also needed to spread awareness that calling 911 from a cell phone may not reach the correct call center. Coral Bay Community Council has begun an outreach campaign to dial 911 by using the full number 340-776-9110, this effort could be expanded upon. Residents can submit feedback to Google Maps to ensure that roads are mapped correctly.

Key Players: VITEMA; Police and Fire Departments; St. John Rescue Alignment: IS, CPCB RSFs Cost: > 1 Million + Timeline: > Three Years