Abilene/Taylor County 9-1-1 District Administration
The Abilene/Taylor County 9-1-1 District was formed in April 1987 when the citizens of Abilene and Taylor County voted to establish and administer 9-1-1 services locally. The Abilene/Taylor County 9-1-1 District Board of Managers contracted with the City of Abilene to administer the District, which covers over 1000 square miles and, not only includes Abilene and the part of Abilene in Jones County, but also all other incorporated municipalities in Taylor County and all unincorporated areas of Taylor County.
The District administratively oversees two primary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), one with the Abilene Police Department serving the City of Abilene and Dyess AFB, and the other with the Taylor County Sheriff's Office serving the rest of Taylor County. These PSAPs are the "9-1-1 call centers" the public uses when accessing emergency services.
Some of the services provided by the District through the City of Abilene are addressing and mapping support through the Geographic Information System (GIS), which not only provides addressing assignment and maintenance for the public and utilities, but also for the PSAPs and emergency responders serving the District. Other functions include deploying and maintaining various upgrades to existing infrastructure to support new technologies. Recently completed were upgrades to existing equipment and installation of new equipment to allow a cell phone caller's location to be displayed on a computer map at the call takers' positions.
New technologies such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecommunication systems, Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) systems, and other telematics (such as OnStar), are currently being researched and incorporated in the development of the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911) infrastructure in concert with other 9-1-1 entities through the Texas 9-1-1 Alliance.