by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 26, 2021 | Comm Center News
SAN ANTONIO — Bexar County officials will share an update on Monday about a pilot program, which started in 2020, on how to address 911 mental-health-related calls is going.
The Specialized Multidisciplinary Alternate Response Team (S.M.A.R.T.) is dispatched through the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office Public Safety Communications Center. The purpose is to more effectively respond with a trained multidisciplinary team and divert individuals experiencing a mental health crisis from jails and emergency departments…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 26, 2021 | Comm Center News
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Maintenance work affected 911 emergency call service in two Kansas counties over the weekend.
Sedgwick County officials said Sunday that callers to 911 in the Wichita area heard a recording instead of reaching a live dispatcher overnight Saturday, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many calls were affected. Officials said Shawnee County’s 911 call center in Topeka was also affected by the outage.
Sedgwick County said the outage was caused by work AT&T was doing on its phone system that wasn’t supposed to cause problems for the emergency call centers, according to The Wichita Eagle…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 26, 2021 | Comm Center News
Once again, the failing emergency communications equipment in Hawkins County was the topic of a recent heated exchange at the July 21 Public Safety Committee meeting.
As members of local emergency response agencies gave reports to the Committee, Commissioner Dawson Fields became increasingly angry when responders mentioned the radio communication issues they encountered during the 13-day search for missing 5-year-old Summer Wells.
Both Fields and Commissioner Mike Herrell told responders that they were tired of the Commission being blamed for these issues, stating that the commission had already recommended that the current failing system be “band-aided” until a permanent solution could be found…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 26, 2021 | Comm Center News
With Colorado wildfire season officially in full swing, fast and ultra-reliable communication is key for our state’s first responders.
Eagle County public safety agencies are transforming their communication technology with FirstNet, built with AT&T a special nationwide wireless network.
Justin Kirkland, Chief of Gypsum Fire Protection District, tells us the impacts of FirstNet have been real, tangible and, at times, lifesaving during wildfire season…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 26, 2021 | Comm Center News
MACOMB COUNTY, MI — Macomb County has completed work on its new dispatch training center at the Macomb County Emergency Management and Communications Technical Services Building in Mount Clemons.
The center will provide training programs to police, fire and EMS dispatch workers through live scenarios, officials said in a news release. In a partnership with the Public Service Institute at Macomb Community College, dispatchers enrolled in the college’s Basic Emergency Telecommunicator Course will also be able to utilize this center as part of their program.
“Dispatchers are oftentimes the unsung heroes of the public safety profession,” Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said. “They perform an essential function in protecting our communities because they are the connection point for police and fire. But that service requires a lot of training, as dispatching has gotten more technical in the last few years with text to 911, CAD systems and other digital platforms…
