File Photo – 911 Dispatch Center | Photo: Jim Bartlett Team Rubicon/BLM for USFS (Flickr / Creative Commons)
(The Center Square) – A bill that would give Illinois emergency dispatchers more benefits and officially classify the profession as first responders could soon be sent to the governor.
Senate Bill 3127 was filed by state Sen. Neil Anderson and provides that emergency dispatchers are now COVID-19 first responders.
If signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, emergency dispatchers would qualify for extra medical benefits, mental health benefits and extra funding for the industry…
EASTERN IDAHO, Idaho (KIFI) – The week of April 10-April 16 was National Public Safety Telecommunicators week. It was a time of special recognition for dispatchers nationwide. These are the people who pick up when we call 911 or the police non-emergency line.
Candee Coverley, a dispatcher with Madison County, says having a week of special recognition was special “And that’s always nice to know that people recognize what we do and that or the first thing you talk to and you call for law enforcement help.” she says, “It’s good to have that acknowledgment. Recognize that there’s a job out there a lot of people don’t know about.”
At least one fellow dispatcher from Idaho Falls echoed that sentiment… READ MORE
THUNDER BAY, SAULT STE MARIE, SUDBURY, NORTHERN, ONTARIO ~~~~~ April 17, 2022 (LSNews) Ontario government is investing $208 million over three years to enhance the province’s 9-1-1 emergency response system.
The funding will enable significant technology and infrastructure upgrades to support the transition to a new 9-1-1 communications system know as Next Generation 9-1-1. Once fully implemented, the new system will make it easier to provide additional details about emergency situations such as video from the scene of an accident and to text 9-1-1 when requesting immediate help from police, fire or ambulance services. It will also give emergency operators and dispatchers the ability to identify the location of a call using GPS coordinates, resulting in a safer, faster and more informed emergency response…
“I’ve shot my entire family, and I’ll kill anyone that tries to stop me, even the cops and firefighters. I have explosives. Don’t come near my house.”
The assumption is that any dispatcher who is on the other end of this call immediately would activate SWAT, the bomb squad, fire and EMS. However, something is missing in the caller’s voice that you, the reader, can’t detect: urgency…
Much has happened since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the United States on Jan. 20, 2020. That date marked the beginning of an ongoing change in our daily behaviors and caused the death of more than 950,000 people nationwide. Although first responders initiated strict protocols, immunity never could be expected.
According to the NFPA, in 2020, firefighter deaths doubled compared with deaths in 2019, with more than half of 2020’s fatalities attributed to COVID. A search of the U.S. Fire Administration database reveals that another 48 firefighters succumbed to the disease in 2021 as of press time. Put another way, dozens of first responders who survived 9/11 failed to survive the coronavirus…
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
