John Merklinger, Communications Center Director, Rochester/Monroe County 9-1-1 Center and 2007 PSAPs' Finest Communications Center Director of the Year

John Merklinger, the Communications Center Director for the Rochester/Monroe County 9-1-1 Center has been named the 2007 PSAPs' Finest Communications Center Director of the Year. John A. Cassin, the 9-1-1 Operations Manager for Rochester/Monroe County, nominated John for the award. Read the story of John Merklinger's illustrious career in public safety below

You won't find John Merklinger's name in the dictionary under "public servant" but it might as well be. No one exemplifies more than John what a public servant should aspire to be - tireless, selfless, and dedicated to serving others.

Public service is more than a job to Merklinger. It has defined him for over twenty years.

John Merklinger's venture into public service began at the formative age when his aunt, a volunteer at a local ambulance corps (Gates Ambulance) enlisted the young Merklinger, then 16, into service as a dispatcher. He later went on to earn his certification as an EMT. That was in 1981.

Today, Merklinger is a life time member of the Gates Ambulance corps, having logged close to 10,000 volunteer hours as a paramedic. While few can claim that distinction, Merklinger, who was recently interviewed on CNN, is probably better known in public safety for his achievements as Rochester/Monroe County's 9-1-1 communications center director - a position he holds today.

Operated by the City of Rochester under contract with Monroe County, the Center fields about 1.2 million calls each year, dispatching for no less than 16 police departments, 45 fire departments, and 32 EMS agencies.

"Since coming here in 1984 I've worked under a number of directors," says 9-1-1 Operations Manager John Cassin. "John is by far the most proactive, visionary, forward-looking director we've ever had."

Merklinger's career with Monroe County began in 1986 when he joined the Center as a police dispatcher. He moved up the ranks to become shift supervisor in 1994 and was appointed 9-1-1 director six years later. Along the way, he earned his Masters Degree in Management and an ENP certification.

Under his leadership, the center earned accreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), the National Academy of Emergency Dispatch (NAED), and the New York State Sheriff's Association (NYSSA). The Center was also recently honored by the E9-1-1 Institute with a 2007 Heroism and Leadership award for in part, achieving phase II wireless 9-1-1 capability in the face of budget challenges.

"The E9-1-1 Institute recognized us in March and we're very proud of that," says Merklinger. "Like some other areas in the U.S., our tax base has been dwindling and it has created some tough fiscal issues." But, he says, his Center still managed to move forward with critical wireless technology upgrades, breaking through a budget logjam by obtaining funding from the City, the County and from outside grants. His organization also took on some of the work internally to offset costs.

"Our internal staff cross-collaborated with our County to build our maps and that saved us huge amounts of money," he says. "The County was already working on a GIS solution so we were able to adapt that for the mapping that we needed for our wireless 9-1-1."

But Merklinger took the project one step further. He collaborated with a local Rochester-based company to add visual imaging capabilities to the Center's wireless 9-1-1.

That company, Pictometry International Corp., specializes in location-enabled imaging technology. By integrating Pictometry's software into their wireless 9-1-1, the Rochester/Monroe County ECD was able to better equip its 9-1-1 call takers for handling wireless calls.

Now, when a wireless emergency call comes into the center, in addition to knowing where the call came from, the Rochester/Monroe County telecommunicator gets a visual image of the caller's location as well.

"John is always on the lookout for any technology that will allow us to do our jobs better," says Cassin. "We could have easily just gone with any mapping program for wireless and it probably would have served our basic needs - but John saw what Pictometry could offer."

The Monroe/Rochester dispatch center is one of the first public safety operations in the Country to employ the combined wireless 9-1-1 mapping/visual imaging technology and Cassin says, it has already paid off.

"We've had instances where we were able to provide a better level of service to the community just by having the extra tool," he says. "Sometimes we get callers and they don't know where they are. We can use the visual imaging and say, 'OK, do you see a red house and if so how far off is it? Are you between this structure and that structure?' We can narrow it down before the first responders get there, with a higher degree of accuracy than we might get otherwise."

Merklinger says that 9-1-1 centers shouldn't let an apparent lack of funding deter them from moving in the best technological direction. "The key is to get creative, to think differently, and to be willing to work with private companies. In our case we had a very supportive Mayor and County Executive."

Always looking for better ways to serve the community, Merklinger is now shifting his attention to another hot button issue - Next Generation 9-1-1. Specifically, he's looking to develop better methods for his Center to handle 9-1-1 calls from the deaf. The major city served by Merklinger's Center, Rochester, is home to the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the RIT National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

"Most every hearing impaired person now-a-days has a cell phone. We have a very large hearing impaired community that wants to be able to text message or send pictures from their camera phones," Merklinger explains. "Still, most 9-1-1 centers don't have the ability to receive that camera phone picture or that text message in an efficient manner yet. So that's the next thing we're looking at and working to address."

Under Merklinger's lead, the Rochester/Monroe 9-1-1 Center is currently partnering with RIT on an initiative to develop better means to communicate with the deaf.

Merklinger is also a tireless advocate for raising public awareness regarding 9-1-1, encouraging his employees to give back to their community as well. With the support of his employees, Merklinger formed a Public Awareness Committee to reach out to the community through presentations at schools, neighborhood associations and through agency open houses. Merklinger even enlisted the help of a local college video department to create a videotape to show how 9-1-1 works.

"I'm a big believer that educating the public on the proper use of 9-1-1 helps prevent some of the calls that just shouldn't come into 9-1-1," he says. "I also think that if you educate kids when they're young they'll use 9-1-1 properly as adults."

In 2006 Merklinger's Public Awareness Committee connected with over 4,279 people through more than 115 events and tours.

Merklinger is a driving force of positive change not only within the microcosm that is his own 9-1-1 center, but within the wider 9-1-1 industry as well. He devotes a significant amount of his own personal time to numerous public safety boards and committees, including the Monroe County Fire/EMS Communications Board, the Monroe County 9-1-1 Operating Practices Board, the Monroe County Law Enforcement Council and the Monroe County Local Emergency Planning Committee.

He is an active member in APCO, NENA, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the New York State 9-1-1 Coordinators Association (currently serving as President of both the New York State 9-1-1 Coordinators Association and the New York State Chapter of NENA).

Merklinger also sits on the Board of Directors for the Gates Volunteer Ambulance Service and for the Gates-Chili Fire Department (GCFD), where he has served in various volunteer capacities for (respectively) 21 and 15 years.

Somewhere in his dizzying schedule, he has also found time to become involved in TERT, both on a state and national level. TERT (which stands for Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce) is a joint APCO/NENA initiative dedicated to the development of a nationally recognized certification program for telecommunicator mutual aid response in the aftermath of disasters. The Taskforce is also taking a leadership role in assisting governmental agencies as they develop their own TERT style programs at regional, state and local levels.

"You will not find a more committed public servant than John Merklinger," says Cassin. "He gives 125 percent all of the time. He is one of the most dedicated public safety officials I've ever met."

Learn more about the 2007 PSAPs' Finest Award Program recipients.

CLICK HERE to visit the Insight 2007 PSAPs' Finest web page and view video stories for each of this year's winners.

CLICK HERE to read the announcement of the 2007 PSAPs' Finest winners.