New mapping equipment could give emergency personnel a headstart and quicker response times when it comes to airlifting patients to medical care centers.

The city soon will put to use a new global positioning system, a small radio receiver - about the size of a cell phone - used to map out locations for pilots of medical helicopters. The department is believed to be the first in the area to use the system for that purpose.

Donated by U.S. Cavalry in Radcliff, the $500 system is expected to slash helicopter response times by allowing dispatchers to give pilots latitudinal and longitudinal directions to sites instead of street names, water towers and landmarks.

Officials believe the network could have been used in a couple of instances in recent months to give more precise directions.

Hale said he realized the need for the system a few weeks ago when a Vine Grove teen died while he was struggling to give pilots directions to the accident, which occurred on rural road.

''I was on the phone with the (pilot) ... when they called me back and told me it was too late,'' Hale said. ''That irked me. I knew I had to do something about it. There had to be some way for us to give directions to the pilots to get them there quickly.''

Hale said he contacted officials at the Radcliff business after he saw one of the systems advertised in their catalog. The business delivered nearly $800 worth of equipment - the main unit, several car mounts, a bicycle mount and a recharger - within a week.

Hale, who supervises the dispatchers at the Radcliff Police Department, now is working to create a database of latitude and longitude positions of major intersections, at sites where accidents frequently occur and of various mile markers across the northern end of the county. Dispatchers will be able to punch in a location on a computer and pull up locations for pilots.

''I am astounded, I mean absolutely blown away, by how willing they were to help and how quickly they responded to the needs of this community,'' Hale said. ''Besides the cost of the equipment and the time it would've taken us to secure it otherwise, this technology is going to save us lives, and that's something you can't put a price tag on.''

Dan Gaddis, vice president of merchandising and retail for U.S. Cavalry, applauded Hale's initiative in securing the system.

Dispatchers, whose voices are heard on radio frequency scanners, are responsible for dispatching officers to the scenes of accidents. They give officers and firefighters information about the location of accidents and the number and status of victims.