by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 11, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released its Public Safety Communications Security white paper today in an effort to explain the importance of Communications Security (COMSEC), basic elements of a COMSEC program, and how to develop an encryption strategy to prevent and mitigate unauthorized access to information.
The white paper focuses on the security of reliable land mobile radio (LMR) communications, with an emphasis on encryption – a critical part of COMSEC…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 11, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
A career in public safety is not about being a hero in the spotlight, but the fact is that first responders often find themselves in the “starring role” of many incidents, some traumatic. And while the type of first responder in the spotlight will differ from incident to incident depending on the type of emergency at hand, there is one branch of emergency services that rarely finds itself the focus of attention: emergency telecommunicators.
Despite the significant level of responsibility dispatchers bear in any type of emergency event, they are essentially invisible. Their lack of on-scene presence often makes them more of a disembodied information source than a team member. This invisibility can lead to several issues, including a lack of post-incident analysis and debriefing…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 11, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
Our results demonstrate that more precise emergency medical dispatching, measured as dispatch priority, accuracy, and medical condition, was not obtained when an EMD had the support of an RN. EMDs working without an RN dispatched most of the calls with the two highest priorities, while when supported by an RN, the proportion of Priority 1 calls was substantially lower. Concordance in the assessment of priority was higher between the EMD and ambulance when the calls were assessed by the EMD alone. Undertriage was observed more often in calls assessed by an EMD with support from an RN…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 7, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
I trust you and yours had a great holiday season! As we move on to 2022, hopes are that Covid will finally be under control and we will watch our economy roar back to life. Now it is time for making New Year’s Resolutions with the best of intentions (but most of us won’t keep them very long).
I am hopeful we can start this year on a positive note for public-safety communications and that we will continue enhancing technologies, devices, and applications the public-safety community uses on FirstNet. Let’s all sign on to the resolutions outlined below and see how many we can keep through 2022…
by ECC Editor | Jan 6, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
With all of the distractions in 2021, many people aren’t aware of a new federal requirement that governs 911 calls and the phone systems that originate these calls. These new laws particularly impact the vast number of organizations that migrated to cloud telephone providers to support remote workers during COVID-19. In August 2019, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to strengthen emergency calls. The newest requirement is the second part of RAY BAUM’S Act, which applies to multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). That means the laws apply to every business with two or more phone lines as part of their phone system… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Jan 5, 2022 | Articles, Comm Center News
President Joe Biden renominated Democrat Gigi Sohn to serve on the Federal Communications Commission, despite broad Republican opposition.
Sohn’s confirmation would secure a Democratic majority at the commission for the first time since Biden took office, allowing it to pursue policies such as restoring Obama-era net neutrality rules.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee didn’t advance the nomination during the last congressional session…
