Why can't 911 use rural route addresses?

When a 9-1-1 call is placed from a rural caller with only a post office rural route and box number their address does not automatically show up on the computer screen in the communications center. Information on the 9-1-1 computer screen about the caller comes from the telephone company, but first 9-1-1 officials must provide the telephone company with a house number and road number that they can enter into their system.

From this information the 9-1-1 dispatch computers tell us automatically which emergency responders are to respond to a given address range or house numbers, and give the emergency responders a locatable address making the 9-1-1 system truly enhanced. Rural route and box numbers cannot be used for 9-1-1 addressing because a rural route box number is only a delivery point that the post office uses and does not represent the location of a structure or house.

Last Updated Tuesday, November 30 1999