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[CC] 911 System Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Cold Cache Crew: It's time to bring another year of the Cold Cache series to a close. The snow is finally gone (despite the Groundhog assuring us it would have been sooner) and this cache series is complete.

Remember: If you found all caches in the 2013 series [i]except[/i] "Queen Elizabeth", contact Bumble and he will grant permission to log that as a bonus find (so you can complete the series).

Bumble would like to thank the 2013 Cold Cache Crew members (bretina, MI Barrel Makers, TJPost, Addham, N8theGR811, and spartanalum) for all of their work on this series.

So long, farewell, until next year ...

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Hidden : 12/17/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   not chosen (not chosen)

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Geocache Description:


February 16 - The nation's first 911 system went into effect in 1968

In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the development of the rotary dial telephone, all telephone calls were operator-assisted. To place a call, the caller was required to pick up the telephone receiver and wait for the telephone operator to answer with "Number please?" They would then ask to be connected to the number they wished to call, and the operator would make the required connection manually, by means of a switchboard. In an emergency, the caller might simply say "Get me the police", "I want to report a fire", or "I need an ambulance/doctor". It was usually not necessary to ask for any of these services by number, even in large cities. Indeed, until the ability to dial a phone number came into widespread use in the 1950s, telephone users could not place calls without operator assistance.

When North American cities and towns began to convert to rotary dial or "automatic" telephone service, many people were concerned about the loss of the personalized service that had been provided by local operators. This problem was partially solved by telling people to dial "0" for the local assistance operator, if they did not know the Fire or Police Department's full number.

The efforts of telephone companies to publicize "Dial '0' for Emergencies" were ultimately abandoned in the face of company staffing and liability concerns, but not before generations of school children were taught to "dial 0 in case of emergency", just as they are currently taught to dial 9-1-1. This situation of unclear emergency telephone numbers would continue, in most places in North America, into the early 1980s. In some locales, the problem persists to this day.

In the United States, the push for the development of a nationwide American emergency telephone number came in 1957 when the National Association of Fire Chiefs recommended that a single number be used for reporting fires. In 1967, the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended the creation of a single number that could be used nationwide for reporting emergencies. The burden then fell on the Federal Communications Commission, which then met with AT&T in November, 1967 in order to come up with a solution.

In 1968, a solution was agreed upon. AT&T chose to implement the concept, but with its unique emergency number, 9-1-1, which was brief, easy to remember, dialed easily, and worked well with the phone systems in place at the time. How the number 9-1-1 itself was decided upon is not well known and is subject to much speculation by the general public. However, many assert that the number 9-1-1 was chosen to be similar to the numbers 2-1-1 (long distance), 4-1-1 ("information" or directory assistance), and 6-1-1 (repair service), which had already been in use by AT&T since the 1920s.

In 1968, 9-1-1 became the national emergency number for the United States. In theory at least, calling this single number provided a caller access to police, fire and ambulance services, through what would become known as a common Public-safety answering point (PSAP). The number itself, however, did not become widely known until the 1970s, and many municipalities did not have 9-1-1 service until well into the 1980s.


The theme for the 2013 Cold Cache series involves events in history that took place between January 1 and March 31 (which is the same timeframe that the Cold Cache series will be available).

Abraham Lincoln Public Museum Elvis Boy Scouts
Town Lights Underground Railroad John Glenn Girl Scouts
Daylight Savings Uranus Washington Monument First Movie
Super Bowl Navy Cotton Gin Queen Elizabeth I
Postage Stamps Panama Canal Nautilus Color TV
Oil Spill King Kong Challenger New Amsterdam
King Tut Bell Telephone Gold Rush Apollo 1
13th Amendment Iwo Jima 911 System Alcatraz
B&O Railroad MLK Ellis Island Alamo


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Pnzbrq ovfba ghor nggnpurq gb n cvax ynalneq nccebkvzngryl rlr yriry.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)