by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 29, 2020 | Articles
As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, daily life has shifted; more people are working from home, and formerly bustling cities are shut down while government takes measures to slow the spread. Amid these changes, public health and safety agencies are increasingly important as they continue to share information with the public and guide them to the right resources — just as they do in all emergency situations.
However, public safety agencies can no longer rely on traditional communication methods to reach the public. Instead, they should turn to emergency communications technologies, like mass notification systems, to both calm and redirect residents to accurate and up-to-date information…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 28, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
The NG9-1-1 Interoperability Oversight Commission (NIOC) is pleased to announce that Laurie Flaherty, Coordinator for the National 911 Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and David Furth, Deputy Chief of the Federal Communications Commission?s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, have been confirmed by the NENA Board to fill two non-voting seats on the NIOC. In this role, they will serve as liaisons between NIOC and the federal government?s 9-1-1 policy coordination and telecommunications regulatory functions, respectively…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 28, 2020 | Articles
The changes to government security practices wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic are unlikely to dissipate when the virus does, current and former government officials said during a recent webinar.
Because public-safety data is usually highly sensitive, officials have been reluctant to use it, but technological advances such as cloud security are making it easier to share securely — and just in time. Public-safety data can be useful for contact tracing — or monitoring the people potentially exposed to the coronavirus. To achieve this…
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 26, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
Saint Paul, MN – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz issued an executive order on Aprail 10 that forced the state health department to provide addresses of people infected with coronavirus to first responders.
Armed with that information, emergency dispatchers can tell responding police, firefighters, and paramedics if … the addresses of contagious cases of coronavirus to 911 dispatch centers, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported…
by ECC Editor | Apr 24, 2020 | Articles
Boxer and pop philosopher Mike Tyson once opined that “everyone has a plan—until they get punched in the mouth.” Without question, the COVID-19 pandemic has punched the public-safety/emergency-response community squarely in the mouth—and hard. But the community’s resiliency and creativity is enabling it to fight back equally hard, and the lessons being learned through the experience will better prepare public-safety and emergency-response agencies for the future… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Apr 23, 2020 | Articles
Emergency responders are taking on expanded roles during the COVID-19 pandemic — from scheduling grocery deliveries to quarantined residents to triaging patients over video chat. These unanticipated changes are revealing the hidden value of emergency operations and will permanently transform the role of public safety officials after the crisis has passed, 911 communications directors said in a webinar Thursday…
