For a dispatcher in Fairbanks, any day can be a busy day, with calls ranging from reporting a traffic accident, requesting medical assistance or asking for help with an abusive partner. The COVID-19 pandemic…
Picture it: You’re caught up in an emergency, but you can’t talk on the phone. So you use Text-to-911. Hoping to give as much detail as possible about your situation, you decide to attach a photo to your text. What could it hurt?
The answer is, it could ruin your chances of getting help at all. Right now, the Text-to-911 system is not able to accept emojis, photos, videos or graphics. So if you send an emergency text to 911 with any emoji or attachment, you run the risk of your text never getting answered. That’s exactly what happened to a deaf man who texted 911 earlier this year with a picture and got a response saying that Text-to-911 wasn’t available…
With emergencies at a constant on top of a pandemic, Austin dispatchers and 911 operators have certainly been feeling the impact of an ongoing staff shortage.
“It’s challenging to operate so under-staffed under normal circumstances, but a prolonged crisis like this has really been very draining on everybody here I think,” said Gary Elmore, police communications supervisor with Austin Police Department…
Following a multi-year assessment of the City of Rochester’s Emergency Communications Department (ECD), the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA) awarded its national accreditation to the City and County 911 Center, which recognizes excellence in community engagement, policies, procedures, equipment and facilities…
Douglas R. Boone, ENP, succeeded Gay Murrell as Director, Hawkins County Emergency Communications District last May after twenty years with Kingsport 911, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Washington County 911, and as Assistant 911 Director with Unicoi County. Gay Murrell served with the Hawkins County Emergency Communications District from 1994 to 2020.
Doug was awarded his ENP (Emergency Number Professional) Certification from the National Emergency Number Association, after having demonstrated his broad based competence and mastery of the comprehensive knowledge base required for emergency number program management…
