In-building coverage is a significant challenge for first-responder emergency communications, according to an International Fire Chiefs Association report based on a Safer Buildings Coalition survey conducted in 2018. According to the report, 98% of emergency responders said that they were having problems with their communication because of dead spots in a building, while 56% said they were experiencing complete communication failures at sites.
There are several factors that cause these in-building communications difficulties for public safety, beginning with the reality that many buildings prevent the receipt or transmission of LMR (Land Mobile Radio) and FirstNet messages, based on construction elements and/or building configuration. Cellular and LMR towers may do an excellent job at transporting the signal, but building materials like rebar, cement, brick, LEED glass, and metal can prevent the signal from reaching a first responder’s device…
Dave Statter covered public safety in the District of Columbia and the region as a reporter for WTOP Radio & WUSA-TV. His website, STATter911.com, focuses on fire, EMS and 911 issues and videos. Dave currently runs STATter911 Communications in Arlington, VA.
Between the pandemic and the wave of violence in the District of Columbia, no one wants another reason to fear for their health and safety or for the well-being of their family. But there’s another crisis. One that’s mostly being ignored by political leaders and the news media. DC 911 is in desperate shape.
Handling almost two million calls each year, there’s no other local public safety agency in the region with more impact on our health and safety than DC’s Office of Unified Communications (OUC). Right now, the person in charge of OUC is struggling to get staff to show up for work and making sure those who do, put in a full shift. And with Covid cases rising among the unvaccinated, this 911 staffing problem may soon get much worse. OUC is the DC agency with the lowest percentage of vaccinated workers – less than 35%…
In 2015, USU — which educates students who want to serve in federal health professions, similar to the mission of the military academies — converted its phones from conventional analog lines to Voice over Internet Protocol. In such systems, voice is converted to a digital signal, allowing users to make calls directly from a computer, a VoIP phone or other data-driven device.
Recently, the USU system underwent a series of enhancements as part of a five-year plan for telephony management, purchasing a host of Cisco Systems products. “There is a perception that government is always behind, always trying to play catch-up,” says Lyons, chief of telecommunications at USU… READ MORE
This week we will look at the numbers as FirstNet (Built with AT&T) continues to add more agencies and users and we will discuss its plans to support another Push-To-Talk (PTT) application. We will then consider the possibility that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will issue a notice of proposed rulemaking for the 4.9-GHz band and reflect on public safety’s stance on this spectrum.
FirstNet Growth
Congratulations to FirstNet (Built with AT&T). The latest numbers have been released and they show that the network now supports more than 17,000 agencies and more than 2.5 million users…
When it comes to user-interface design, 911 is about as good as it gets. It’s the “most recognized number in the United States,” Steve Souder, a prominent 911 leader, points out. Simple, fast, and it works from any telephone in the United States. No matter what the emergency is, the call takers on the other side will triage and dispatch assistance.
I’ve taken that ubiquity and simplicity for granted over the past three parts of this EC-1 on RapidSOS as we’ve looked at the startup’s origin story, business and products, as well as its partnerships and business development engine. The company is deeply enmeshed with 911, which means that the prospects of 911 as a system will heavily determine the trajectory of RapidSOS in the coming years, or at least, until its international expansion hits scale and it isn’t so dependent on the U.S. market… READ MORE
Thousands of 911 centers are improving their response by leveraging the life-saving data of the RapidSOS Clearinghouse. Now, thanks to our NICE Inform integration with RapidSOS, that same data can transform your post incident reconstruction and investigations.
Double Platinum 2020 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program Winner,NICE Public Safety, has announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with RapidSOS, also a former ‘ASTORS’ Award Winner, to deliver data-driven incident reconstruction and insights to 911 Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs).
As a RapidSOS Ready partner, NICE has integrated its NICE Inform Elite suite of modular applications for incident information management solutions, with the RapidSOS emergency response data platform and has deployed the new solution at multiple 911 centers…
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
