by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
(Updated 3:40 p.m.) Organizations representing Alexandria police and firefighters are taking the city to task for what they say are chronic underpayment issues that put local residents at risk, but city officials say the push is a negotiation tactic in the ongoing collective bargaining discussions.
Local labor unions Alexandria Committee of Police, IUPA Local 5, and Alexandria International Association of Firefighters Local 2141 issued a joint press release decrying current pay conditions.
“Alexandria’s starting salary ranks 19th out of the 20 Northern Virginia jurisdictions, and we’re seeing how that impacts recruitment and retention.” said Marcus Downey, Vice President of the Alexandria Committee of Police, IUPA Local 5. “Through the first 9 months of the year, we have already lost 30 officers who have left for better-paying jobs, but we’ve only been able to hire 11 replacements. In a city where the crime rate has increased 15% since 2019, it is a safety risk for the community, and for our officers, when we can only replace 1 out of every 3 officers we lose…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
On Oct. 15, Gov. Andy Beshear and the Kentucky State Police announced that 16 telecommunicators representing 11 posts located throughout the commonwealth have graduated KSP’s in-house telecommunications academy.
Present-day emergency services communication centers require several qualities and characteristics that are imperative, including the ability to handle high stress, challenging conditions; flexible work schedules; empathy toward others and the ability to learn and adapt, especially in areas of technology.
The graduates of Class 18 received 196 hours of instruction over five weeks. Major training areas include legal liability, limits of telecommunicator authority, telecommunicator’s role in public safety, interpersonal communications, customer service, combating stress, ethics and confidentiality, responder safety, essential fire dispatch, state emergency operations plans, criminal justice information systems, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, first aid training, emergency medical dispatch and special needs callers…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 19, 2021 | Jobs
The 911 Communication Dispatcher coordinates with the Communications Supervisor on a daily basis to ensure all assignments are completed. Demonstrate complete knowledge of the Communications Center operations to include receiving, processing, and dispatching requests for emergency medical service within the Grady EMS response zone. Ensure all in service vehicles and equipment are in an acceptable state of readiness at all times. Will be responsible for tracking and posting all units using System Status Management (SSM) while maintaining compliance to SSM posting plan. Places units’ in-service/out of service in accordance with policy and supervision approval. Will ensure that units are taking the most appropriate routes to calls. Will always select the closest most appropriate unit for each emergency calls. Will utilize auxiliary units: Mobile Stroke Unit, Mobile Integrated Health (MIH), Mobile Psychiatric Unit (7170) as appropriate. Responsible for exemplifying excellent customer service behavior and timely responsiveness to co-workers, patients, clients, physicians, and vendors. Will maintain Emergency Medical Dispatch Certification by working shifts as an E911 Communications Call Taker as needed or as scheduled…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 19, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Jeff Bratcher, Chief Network and Technology Officer, First Responder Network Authority
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11. In the aftermath of that tragedy, the public safety community pushed for its own dedicated network to address some of the communications challenges responders faced on that day. The community called for a nationwide network, one it could rely on to communicate and share information with each other during emergencies as well as their day-to-day operations.
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by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 18, 2021 | Comm Center News
OUC staff requires more supervision, improved call handling, and efficient location identification; recent improvements should continue with enhanced support
October 19, 2021 (WASHINGTON) The D.C. Office of United Communications 911 Operations Division (OUC) has seen inconsistent handling of calls, difficulties with determining the location of emergencies, and does not meet national standards in getting timely help to callers, according to a new report issued by the Office of the D.C. Auditor (ODCA).
The report by public safety communications consulting firm Federal Engineering, Inc. (FE) on contract with ODCA assesses the effectiveness of OUC against national standards including a review of 2019 and 2020 call metrics, a sample of 911 call recordings, an evaluation of OUC culture and training, and a review of OUC’s technological capabilities and internal investigations…
