Take the county's emergency communications network, for example. Tremendous strides in computer tracking technology have been made in just a few short years. And each improvement brings with it a quicker and more efficient dispatch of police, fire and medical personnel, saving lives in the process.

It hasn't been that long ago that emergency dispatchers were housed in jurisdictions spread across the county. Olympia police had their own dispatchers adjacent to the city jail. Lacey and Tumwater police and the sheriff's office had their own dispatchers. Fire dispatchers also had their own office. Communication among the various emergency responders was slow and inefficient.

It wasn't until 1978 when the new Thurston County Courthouse was built that emergency dispatchers came together into one office. The well-trained dispatchers were able to communicate with one another quickly and send the appropriate emergency personnel to the scene.

But dispatchers were forced to ask 9-1-1 callers a series of questions -- the caller's name, address, telephone number, closest intersection, etc. It was time-consuming, and callers in the midst of crisis weren't always able to provide reliable information. The first big advancement in emergency dispatch communications came on Nov. 4, 1987, when Thurston County switched to what's known as "enhanced 9-1-1 service."

From that point on calls from homes or businesses automatically register a screen full of information at central dispatch. By looking at their screens, dispatchers know immediately the address where the call is generated, what the telephone number is and to whom that phone line is registered. Enhanced 9-1-1 service was extended statewide in 1998.

But beginning in the late 1990s, emergency dispatchers saw a drastic change in the origin of calls. In 1995, for example, one-tenth of 1 percent of the calls to Capcom, the county's emergency dispatch center, came from cellular telephones. Today, 22 percent of the calls are from cellular telephones.

The dispatching technology has not kept pace with the change in customer phone use. Today, it's impossible for dispatchers to know the exact location of a cellular caller. For example, a person following a drunk driver on the freeway may not know his or her exact location.

By next summer Thurston and Mason county officials hope to have the new computer tracking technology in place so that dispatchers can pinpoint the exact location of a cellular call.

It's another great step forward. As Jim Quackenbush, dispatch supervisor at Capcom said, "Every second we save is a second we might be able to put toward saving someone's life or property."

Quackenbush and his staff deserve credit for staying on top of technological advances and finding creative ways to improve service.

Suddenly those annoying 50 cent per month charges on the telephone bill don't seem quite so annoying. Knowing that those taxes are going directly for enhanced 9-1-1 services to allow dispatchers to track cellular calls fosters a sense of security.