by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 9, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
FirstNet keeps first responders and communities safe. It is the nationwide Public Safety broadband network, services and solutions that are dedicated to first responders and those that support them.
How does FirstNet work?
FirstNet is a dedicated high-speed communications platform using LTE cellular technologies along with its own core network and SIM cards. LTE is the baseline technology with FirstNet operating on multiple frequencies. Each new frequency essentially adds a lane to the highway, making travel faster and safer for everyone. FirstNet increases the speed of transmission for high-speed data, location information, images, and video that can mean all the difference when seconds..
by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 4, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
We reached out to women in public safety leadership roles to discuss the challenges they’ve faced and provide advice for future leaders. In the coming months, APCO will highlight these interviews online and in our publications.
Jeryl Lynn Brown Anderson, Recruitment and Outreach Coordinator, Orange County Emergency Services
How did you get your start in emergency communications?
Started working for Wilmington Police Department, located in Wilmington, NC, as a Police Cadet in 1984 with aspirations of becoming an officer. My mother was a telecommunicator for the agency, who back then had three (3) staff members in what we called the “radio room”. I worked the front desk as a police cadet, answering phones, assisting walk-ins, keeping up with the call volume from the center and other assigned duties…
by AllThingsECC.com | Mar 4, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Welcome to March 2021. If last month was any indication, this will be a very busy year for public-safety professionals, especially those providing communications to the public-safety community. I hope we will see Congress fund Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG911), which is currently one of the public-safety community’ most critical needs. NG911 will convert standard voice 9-1-1 calls into broadband calls that will include text, videos, and images. While Emergency Command Centers (ECCs) will face some challenges in vetting and authenticating incoming requests for service, once that has been done, the pictures and even videos can be pushed out to first responders in the field…
by ECC Editor | Mar 3, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
When you are in an emergency and waiting for help to arrive, every minute seems like forever. You call 911, give them your location and explain what is happening and while on the phone they dispatch the appropriate agency. What if you did not have to wait for the 911 telecommunicator to dispatch? A new app is being used in California that has helped speed up the emergency response time.
HigherGround, a software development agency that specializes in telecommunications, has developed the Live911 application that allows police officers to listen 911 calls in real time. Police officers in Clovis, California began using the Live911 app about a year ago, and today, around 60% of the department is using the technology… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 26, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Excellence in the ECC depends on a telecommunicator’s understanding of the public and first responders in the field.
[Originally published in the March/April 2021 PSC magazine.]
By David Larson
You have probably heard of Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th-century architect, artist, engineer, inventor and scientist. Leonardo da Vinci was a man of a great many talents, what one would refer to as a Renaissance man. Nowadays, this term has become interchangeable with the word polymath. Public safety telecommunicators can be the polymaths of public safety…
by ECC Editor | Feb 25, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
By now, everyone should be familiar with rapidly deploying technologies that support pandemic remote work initiatives and have most likely heard of Kari’s law and RAY BAUM’s Act E-911 requirements. As mentioned in my previous post, “A Tale of 3 Approaches to Supporting Remote Workers,” I outlined some of the ways organizations rapidly deployed technology supports workers at home. Here, I’ll explain the impact that RAY BAUM’s Act phases will have on the remote work environment… READ MORE
