by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
NAMPA — The Nampa Police Department on Tuesday named Carmen Boeger community engagement coordinator, a new position within the department.
Boeger, a longtime employee and current manager of Nampa’s dispatch center, will be responsible for relaying information to the public and assisting with the department’s public engagement programs and events.
Boeger has worked for Nampa Police Department as a 911 dispatcher, trainer and crisis negotiator. She also helped launch the department’s Facebook page and expand its social media presence with Twitter and Instagram. Boeger has been the department’s social media administrator for the last several years…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, Office of Emergency Communications has selected AT&T to implement AT&T ESInet™, including Next Generation 9-1-1 (NextGen 9-1-1) call routing and emergency call statistic reporting, to improve emergency communications across the state. This new contract between AT&T and the state of Wisconsin is valued at up to $84 million over the next 10 years. Services provided by AT&T under the contract will help improve public safety and support 9-1-1 telecommunicators, dispatchers and first responders to help keep Wisconsin communities safe.
“Helping to ensure everyone in the state has access to NextGen 9-1-1 services is an essential step in keeping people safe and making first responders aware of ongoing threats to public safety,” said Maj. Gen. Paul Knapp, Wisconsin’s adjutant general…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
The Regional Communications Center in Augusta is short 10 people. The director said every 911 call will be answered, but said dispatchers are feeling burned out.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Some 911 dispatch centers in Maine are struggling with staffing.
The Regional Communications Center in Augusta is short 10 people. Dispatchers are feeling burned out, and Maine Emergency Communications Director Brodie Hinckley said it is becoming a crisis.
“Especially since COVID hit. It’s definitely harder to get applications in. Nobody wants to work. Nobody wants to work in public safety, public safety across the board,” Hinckley said…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 6, 2021 | Comm Center News
The night started normally enough for Suffolk County fire dispatcher Darin Swicicki, but as Wednesday night’s storm surged, taxing the New York City’s 911 system, he found himself inundated with calls about emergencies unfolding two counties away.
Swicicki, 40, began his shift early at 7:30 p.m. to earn some overtime and avoid traffic as the storm bore down. “After the second or third call it was clear that something was going on that they weren’t able to handle,” he explained.
On a typical night, Suffolk dispatchers in his unit might field about 90 calls. On Wednesday night, 260 calls flooded in, many about emergencies in the city, he said…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 6, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Jeff Johnson says 9/11 shed light on the flaws in communications systems used by the nation’s first responders.
When Jeff Johnson watched the second plane hit the World Trade Center on live television from his office at the Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue in Aloha 20 years ago, he wondered if it was going to be another Pearl Harbor.
“Like so many of us in America, I just got out of my chair and said, ‘That’s no accident. Someone intended to do that,'” the former TVF&R chief said.
One month later, Johnson was called to New York City to help with the process of replacing the 343 firefighters lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It is not uncommon for TVF&R personnel to be called to respond to national disasters like this.
When Johnson arrived, he was struck by how empty the city was. He also remembers how the community treated surrounding fire stations like shrines, with lost crew members’ belongings remaining untouched, just as they were the day they left the station on that tragic day…
