by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2020 | Articles
Emerging advancements in dispatch technology have provided public safety agencies with new and exciting capabilities. As 9-1-1 command centers acquire these next-generation products, the next logical step is to maximize efficiencies by integrating them with external data sources.
If only it were that simple.
Integration with external data sources requires opening up your organization’s computer infrastructure to these outside entities—and to outside threats. Attacks on public safety agencies can be devastatingly effective, from data theft to complete system incapacitation…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2020 | Articles
This week on A Place For My Head, Brandon Thompson and Jerry Petuck discuss a serious issue within the law enforcement community and that’s PTSD. Former police officer/911 dispatcher Jamie Gonzalez, a long time friend of Jerry’s, is featured in the upcoming documentary PTSD 911, where she shares her experience as both a dispatcher and a cop that ultimately led to her resignation…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 15, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Brandi Vincent
As America fights a global pandemic and braces for what could be an alarmingly active hurricane season, public safety agencies looking to modernize response efforts have a new option to participate in personal, two-way conversations directly with each other and with those they serve—via text message.
RumbleUp, a peer-to-peer texting app that’s made notable waves for political and advocacy campaigns in recent years, was accepted into the FirstNet App Catalog, a dedicated library of secure applications that can be used by more than 12,000 public safety agencies. The addition could enable first responders to directly text people on the ground in support of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing efforts, as a lifeline during hurricanes, and other natural disasters or unexpected events and much more. READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Jul 10, 2020 | Articles
Cloud-native 911 solution developer RapidDeploy has experienced some hiccups during the past few months, but the realities surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have accelerated interest and acceptance of its cloud-based CAD, mapping and analytics offerings, according to a company executive.
Historically, 911 systems have been built with premise-based technologies that require telecommunicators to be physically present in designated 911 centers to accept emergency calls from the public and dispatch public-safety resources to the scene… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 10, 2020 | Articles
Although the questions around staffing and overtime at Meriden’s emergency dispatch center are far from settled, City Manager Tim Coon says there’s one thing on which both the city and the union are in agreement: that staffing shortages need to be resolved.
Beyond that, though, the discussion descends into charges and countercharges.
The union says dispatchers are working 72 to 88 hours per week. “We have tried repeatedly to engage management in fixing the problem, and we have tried to be part of…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 9, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
The Federal Communications Commission is usually enthusiastic about opening up additional spectrum for commercial use. Not in the case of the T-Band—which has long been used by public safety agencies in some major cities, but under a Congressional mandate, has to be auctioned off by February 2021.
FCC Chair Ajit Pai has repeatedly asked Congress to scuttle the so-called T-Band mandate, arguing that between the cost of moving users out of the band and the disruption to public safety communications, it’s not worth it. While there is bipartisan opposition to a T-Band auction and some legislation has been proposed that would include a repeal of the mandate, so far Congress hasn’t passed anything that lets the FCC off the hook for a T-Band auction. So the agency recently proposed rules (pdf) for the reallocation of the T-Band spectrum at 470-512 MHz…
