by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 17, 2021 | Comm Center News
SANGAMON COUNTY, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — The people answering your 9-1-1 calls are working thousands of hours of overtime.
In Sangamon County, combined overtime costs in 2019 and 2020 totaled more than $1.3 million, and officials say the problem could get worse before it gets better.
Dispatchers are the calm voice on the other end of the line when you call in an emergency.
“Everybody who calls in is typically screaming,” said Chris Mueller, executive director of the Sangamon County Emergency Telephone System Department. “It’s the worst day of their life, and we have to be that calming voice.” …
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 17, 2021 | Comm Center News
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – On Thursday, the City of Durham held a job fair at the NC Works career center on South Briggs. Officials looked to recruit call takers as almost half of the city’s 911 operator positions are vacant.
CBS 17 has been reporting for months on the staffing shortage at the Durham Emergency Communications Center (DECC) and the impact it’s having on the community. Multiple people have said they’ve had to call 911 multiple times or hold on the line for several minutes before someone answers.
According to city officials, as of Thursday, 28 of their 60 positions at the Durham Emergency Communications Center were vacant…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 17, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
After the article about the lack of data interoperability across the FirstNet (Built with AT&T) network appeared last week in the Advocate, I received comments indicating that serious work has indeed been undertaken to address this issue. I hope to be able to provide more information in coming weeks.
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been busy. After its September meeting, it appears that a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) for the 4.9-GHz spectrum will be released for comments. The FCC will also act on the 6-GHz sharing of licensed microwave with unlicensed Wi-Fi 6 users…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 17, 2021 | Comm Center News
Flathead County property owners will begin seeing a new assessment supporting the consolidated 911 dispatch center on tax bills that go out in November.
Flathead County voters approved a ballot measure in the November 2020 general election that taxes property owners to pay the cost of emergency dispatch and supporting communication services, equipment and infrastructure for the county and its municipalities. The taxes will be payable semi-annually in two equal payments.
City councils in all three incorporated cities in Flathead County — Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish — had passed resolutions in support of the levy…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 17, 2021 | Comm Center News
Corky Martin started his 26-year career in law enforcement in 1991 as a jailer at the old detention center adjacent to the Garland County Sheriff’s Department.
He’s still working there 30 years later, but in a much different role. He’s director of the Garland County 911 Communications Center, which went live in the booking area of the old jail in 2018 and ushered in a new era of public safety communications in the county.
In 2017, the county began building the new facility and migrating its communications system from an analog platform to the Arkansas Wireless Information Network’s 700-800 MHz frequency digital microwave-based interoperable system. At the same time, responsibility for answering 911 calls and dispatching emergency personnel shifted from the sheriff’s department to the county’s Office of Emergency Management…
