by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 13, 2019 | Articles, Comm Center News
Tuesday, August 13, 2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Presenters: Jonathan Jones, Athens-Clarke County Police Department; Tyrell Morris, Orleans Parish Communications District
This session offered a unique look into tactical dispatch teams that respond with field units, as well as those that operate out of the center. Attendees were able to take lessons learned from the Athens-Clarke County 9-1-1 as they developed their team as well and those lessons learned when Orleans Parish utilized their team during Madi Gras.
What makes tactical dispatch different than our everyday operations? Tyrell Morris stated that tactical dispatchers operate with a specific task or operation in mind. This task may be water rescues during a flash flooding outbreak, high-risk warrant services, SWAT/SRT operations and other like operations. These teams take the special operation workload off the center’s floor, reducing the call load and tasks of the rest of the communications staff.
by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 13, 2019 | Comm Center News
VANDALIA, Ohio — The state has a new requirement to all emergency
dispatch centers across Ohio that is designed to improve treatment for
urgent medical calls.
The Ohio Department of Administrative
Services gave all dispatch centers a deadline of April 1 to either be
emergency medical dispatch certified or to submit a timeline for
compliance.
The city of Vandalia’s dispatch center submitted a compliance
timeline and the communications staff complete the required training on
June 21. The compliance was accepted on June 26.
The staff members began using EMD as they completed the training.
“Trained
telecommunicators, using locally approved EMD Guide-cards, quickly and
properly determine the nature and priority of the call, dispatch the
appropriate response, then give the caller instructions to help treat
the patient until the responding EMS units arrive,” Lt. Ben Walker said.
by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 13, 2019 | Comm Center News
Officials for the 911 emergency services in both Norfolk and Virginia
Beach are telling residents if they make a call for service and the
line continues to ring, they’re placed on hold or are greeted by an
answering machine, don’t hang up.
Not only will the caller lose their place in the queue, but the
already short-staffed dispatchers are required to spend valuable time
calling back the missed caller, said Margie Hobbs, a recruiter at Virginia Beach’s Emergency Communications and Citizen Services divisions.
“If a caller dials 911, even if it’s by accident, it’s important to
remain on the phone to let the call-taker know you’re okay,” she said.
“If you hang up, it ties up the call-takers because they have to call
back until they get an answer to advise the caller is okay.”
by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 12, 2019 | Comm Center News
Maj. Reginald Patterson, chief of staff services with the State
Police, said in an e-mailed statement that the agency was reviewing
communications services, but not ready to publicly discuss it.
”The West Virginia State Police is in the process of reviewing four
of our dispatch centers for consolidation; we are not in a position to
publicly discuss any plans because they are not finalized,” he said.
”Furthermore, this consolidation would not involve the closing of any
detachment or relocating areas for troopers, only communications
services.”
Wood County commissioners, of which the 911 center is under their
auspices, said they have been hearing talk around the community about
the State Police planning to consolidate dispatchers in Charleston and
all calls would be dispatched from there.
by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 12, 2019 | Comm Center News
DAVIESS COUNTY, Ky. — A recent study into communications problems
experienced by Daviess County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters found
the county’s communication system is obsolete in places and is in need
of upgrades or replacement.
The study gives Daviess Fiscal Court
some short-term fixes that can be performed at a relatively low cost.
The report also lays out options for overhauling or replacing the system
that will cost millions of dollars.
Read More..
by AllThingsECC.com | Aug 12, 2019 | Comm Center News
Lincoln County servers have been infiltrated by
ransomware for the second time in less than two weeks. This time, it was
servers within Lincoln County Communications that were hacked. Issues
were discovered by Lincoln County Information Technology staff around
8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 6, according to a press release issued by
Bill Gibbs, director of the Lincoln County Communications Center.
To
date, no requests for ransom or other contact has been made by the
hacker. Local, regional and federal resources including the National
Guard, the FBI and the Lincoln County Sheriff’s
Office have been contacted for support. No personal data was
compromised that the county knows of, and it is unknown at this time how
long it will take to get the servers back in operation, according to
county manager Kelly Atkins.
“The servers could be back up as quick as a week or as long as a month,” Atkins said. “We’ve got a lot of people working on a lot of different things.”
Read More..
