RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT Dispatcher Shelley Rogers points to the 911 call screen at her station in the dispatch center. Advertisement

"Golden," and "beautiful -- a long time coming" were words used by Nye County Sheriff's Office Lt. Frank Jarvis to describe Beatty's new enhanced 911 system.

Before the new system was installed, the Beatty dispatch center, which also serves Amargosa Valley, relied on a regular telephone hook-up.

"If you called and hung up or could not talk, we had to call AT&T and have them trace it, which could take a significant amount of time," said Jarvis.

It might be as long as half an hour -- if the trace was successful.

The new system, which has built-in back-up and recording, is computer based and is connected to a special 911 trunk line. When a 911 call comes in, an alarm buzzer sounds, and 911 flashes on a red background on the screen.

The system displays the caller's telephone number and address. Jarvis says this can help shorten response time.

Over the years addresses in Beatty have changed.

Street numbers were once rather informally assigned by residents or by the water district. Eventually the county regularized the system, and many residences were assigned new numbers.

This is not a problem for the system, says Jarvis.

Even if people have the old numbers posted on their residences, the system will display the address used by the telephone company, and the responding emergency personnel will use it, too.