Jefferson County’s sole 911 communications dispatch center, JeffCom, recently welcomed the arrival of its new director Stacie Huibregtse.
Huibregtse is a Marine Corps veteran in addition to being a career dispatcher for the Washington State Patrol. Huibregtse actually happens to be a little more than a longtime dispatcher, she was previously in charge of the training program for up-and-coming dispatchers…
Last week’s Advocate discussing the difference between FirstNet and commercial networks that concluded that FirstNet needs to continue to stand alone and not become part of a network of networks was one of the most viewed and commented on Advocates I have written in a while. Most of the comments agreed that FirstNet is different from a typical commercial broadband network from The FirstNet Authority down to the public-safety professionals whose network it is…
PITTSFIELD — The “sudden, tragic” death Tuesday of Berkshire County Sheriff’s dispatcher Sheila Hughes, known for her “calm voice,” has sent a shock through the sheriff’s office and larger community.
Berkshire County Sheriff Thomas Bowler said Wednesday morning that there are “unanswered questions here,” since Hughes, 60, was not known to have an illnesses that might have caused her to die so suddenly.
“I spoke to her fiance this morning,” Bowler said. “He and the family are distraught. They’re looking for some answers medically, as we all are”…
By Richard Mirgon, Public Safety Consultant
This is a message for Verizon and Andres Irlando, a Verizon senior vice president and president of the carrier’s Public Sector and Verizon Connect unit. You are going down a path that is well traveled and not new. You can go back decades and see all the work done by thousands to resolve public safety interoperability and that path is lined with many failures.
Now since I am somewhat of an expert on this topic let me help you out with some observations and good history. You can look at all the standards work the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) has done, along with the work the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) has done. There are standards that cover everything from CAD to CAD interfaces, NextGen Networks to Land Mobile Radio (LMR). The largest having been P25. They have all had varying levels of success but none of those have solved the problem…
HIGHLANDS — Residents of this borough may have plenty of questions about the pros and cons of the town’s police department switching over to the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office emergency dispatch system, but one thing is clear — they certainly love, respect and are grateful for the members of their local police department…
