Shaler police officer Carl Funtal wants to make sure that Shaler students never have a problem if they need to call 911.

Every year, Funtal and a representative from Allegheny County Emergency Services go to the Shaler elementary schools to teach them the proper ways to handle an emergency.

Funtal spent a day last week at Burchfield Elementary School talking to kindergarten and first-grade students.

"We try to teach them what to say," Funtal says. "They need to know the information."

Funtal and Scott Bailey, a dispatcher with the North Allegheny County unit, brought in a county 911 van and hooked up a phone line to go inside one of the classrooms.

Funtal then has the students make a phone call to 911, and Bailey sits in the van and answers the call like it's a real situation. The scenario gives students the opportunity to hear exactly what a dispatcher would really say to them in case of an emergency.

Funtal says it's important for all the kids to know their name, address, neighborhood and phone number in order to give emergency responders their location.

Bailey, who has been a dispatcher for 10 years, says they try to get to as many of the schools as they can.

"Some of the kids are nervous," says Bailey.

He says even though knowing the proper information is important, dispatchers can nail down a person's location through the technology they use and even by landmarks, because they know the areas so well.

Bailey is practically a walking almanac because of his service as a dispatcher, fire fighter, medic and police officer.

Funtal and Bailey not only taught the kids what to do in an emergency, but also what not to do. Funtal brought up Tanner Karbowski, 6, to make a prank call to the dispatcher.

The dispatcher immediately called back to find out if there was an emergency or if there was just a bored kid, messing around on the phone.

"Go home and tell your mom and dad what you learned today," Funtal told the students.

Bailey says the program has been a success so far, and wants to expand it as much as possible.

"It's a good system," he says. "I'd like to see this more in all of the schools"