Nicole Janey, center, was voted by peers to represent the Class of 2020 Communication Center Manager program at Navigator.
Audrey Fraizer
Front stage at NAVIGATOR 2021 was a pitch far from EMD Nicole Janey’s stepping away from
a career in which she excelled and believed she would never leave.
But she did and came back again. Stronger.
Janey was an emergency dispatcher at the Boston Police Department, Massachusetts
(USA). She could dispatch the toughest of calls – the Boston Marathon bombing,
for example – and keep her cool knowing she was doing all she could to help. Sure,
some situations weighed more heavily on her than others but not to the extent
of the call convincing her to leave…
The APCO 2021 conference is taking place in San Antonio this week. Many attendees come from the public-safety community or are involved in some way with public-safety communications. Many others are the people who make up public safety’s front-line, handling incoming calls from citizens and dispatching public-safety resources to a multiplicity of incidents around the United States. Once again, APCO has devoted an entire conference track to FirstNet.
FirstNet Authority RFI
According to an article in Urgent Communications, the FirstNet Authority has issued a Request For Information (RFI) concerning off-network communications, primarily Push-To-Talk (PTT) voice communications. As many readers know, I have been skeptical about the section of the 3GPP Mission-Critical Push-To-Talk (MCPTT) standard that attempts to address off-network broadband communications. Samsung’s MCPTT solution includes Proximity Services (ProSe) embedded in its chip. Motorola recently announced it will also offer 3GPP-compliant MCPTT capabilities later this year but these products will not include ProSe…
Four Downriver communities will divvy up more than $700,000 in state grants to repair, replace and upgrade equipment and services.
Among the four Downriver communities, Allen Park received the largest grant — $200,000 — to swap copper for lead in connecting a water main to a home or business. Tom Murray, the city’s director of public services, said the effort is part of an initiative to enhance city water service infrastructure.
Mayor Michael Bowdler said a grant for $198,151 will be used to “significantly” improve technology for the city’s public safety department…
If you haven’t already, odds are good you’ll have to dial 911 at some point. Whether it’s an emergency happening to you or someone else, the voice on the other end offers a sense of calm in a storm when it’s needed most.
It’s a fast-paced career, but public safety dispatchers say there’s no job that compares. They’re the first line of defense because they are notified first when an emergency occurs. While calming frantic callers, they simultaneously communicate with the responding agency.
Dispatchers are key members of an efficient, well-trained team of public safety professionals. One of those members is Florence Prickett, a dispatcher and 12-year veteran of Huntsville Fire & Rescue…
The Escambia County Board of Education recently approved a measure that will allow the county’s volunteer fire departments to make use of the communications towers located at several county schools.
The memorandum of aid (MOA) between the BOE and the Escambia County Alabama Association of Volunteer Fire Departments will allow volunteers to remain in contact with other public safety agencies when emergency responders are dispatched to the county’s most remote areas, including its rural schools.
The towers, which are not being used by the school system, are located at Huxford Elementary School, Escambia Career Readiness Center in Brewton, W.S. Neal Middle School, Flomaton High School and Pollard-McCall Junior High School.
Most, but not all, of the county’s volunteer agencies will benefit from use of the enhanced communications…
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.
