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QUINCY -- If you have an emergency, you should have better and faster service from Quincy-Adams County 911 now.   That's because the service has moved from the courthouse to its new facility on North 52nd Street near the juvenile detention center.  The move, along with new equipment and training, means Quincy and Adams County now has enhanced 911 service.  That's why you might have received a phone call from someone with the 911 center earlier this year. Workers were checking phone numbers and addresses to make sure the system would work correctly when you need it.

"Basic 911 just has voice connection. It did not transmit the locating information, what police,fire and ambulance respond to the 911 operator," said Steve Rowlands, Quincy/Adams County 911 Center director.

How it works is whenever a call comes in; the dispatcher will see the location of the call -- in this test call we made, KHQA and our address at 301 South 36th Street in Quincy. It also shows the dispatcher which emergency officials have responded -- police, fire, ambulance or all three.   The 911 center has made a lot of progress, but there still is work to be done.  For instance, dispatchers can't locate emergency calls that come in from a cell phone.

 "Cell phones, we have to ask them where they are," said Rowlands. "We're currently in the process for implementing wireless enhanced 911."

That should take about a year.   Over the next six weeks, the old 911 center in the Adams County Courthouse will begin reformatting to the new system.  Once that's finished, the old center will serve as a back-up or alternative public safety communications facility.