Another county office is battling an attack on its computers. This time.. it’s the Vigo County Sheriff’s Office. Over the weekend.. a malware virus infected its computer system and that virus has directly impacted the Vigo County 9-1-1 Dispatch Center. News 10’s Jada Huddlestun is live at the Vigo County Jail. She joins us now to break down what happened.
OTTAWA COUNTY, MI—For those who work as 9-1-1 operators, it’s not a matter of if they’re going to hear something traumatic, but when.
“Not everybody can do this job,” said Megan Ross, who works as a dispatcher for Ottawa County. “Some people can, some people can’t, and there’s no middle ground. When we pick up the phone, we don’t know what we’re going to get.”
Ross has spent the last 16 years working for Ottawa County Central Dispatch, acting as the very first responder in countless emergencies. She said when you’re taking hundreds of calls a day like that, resilience is the key to being good at the job
Citing the state’s desire to upgrade California’s analog 9-1-1 system microwave network to a digital platform, Gov. Gavin Newsom recently touted a $1 billion investment in emergency preparedness and response funding.
During a 9-1-1 call center tour at the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, Newsom said new funding included in the 2019 budget act to modernize 9-1-1 systems across the state would aid in better preparation to help those in need during emergencies and natural disasters.
“During my first week in office, I proposed making crucial updates to modernize our antiquated 9-1-1 system,” he said. “The idea that it’s 2019, and we are using analog systems designed decades ago is astounding. We need to make investments to make sure the technology aligns with devices people are using daily.”
California’s network of 9-1-1 systems uses pre-Internet and pre-cellphone era technology that has proven to be unreliable, hindering the ability of dispatchers and emergency responders and threatening lives. Over the last year, there have been an average of thirteen 9-1-1 outages per month, equaling 22,705 minutes when 9-1-1 was not available.
Four new Anoka County Central Communications dispatcher positions were unanimously approved the Anoka County Board July 23 in response to a spike in 911 calls this year.
According to Dee Guthman, deputy county administrator, dispatchers are dealing with a very high volume of calls right now, and more dispatchers are needed immediately to deal with them.
The county has not increased the central communications dispatcher staffing in at least four years, Guthman told the management committee..
In an interview, Guthman said call volumes through the end of June are 14,000 more than in the same period a year ago.
There are currently 36 dispatchers in the central communications department who work 12-hour shifts.
The Scott County Board of Supervisors will vote Thursday on an amendment to the 2020 budget to reflect changes resulting from the radio infrastructure project’s bond issuance.
David Farmer, the county’s budget and administrative services director, told the board Tuesday the recommended amendment is to recognize the issuance of debt for the 911 radio infrastructure project as well as the use of bond proceeds to be paid out to reimburse Scott Emergency Communications Center, or SECC, for the project’s costs. The amendment also includes changes stemming from the refinancing of 2009 debt as part of the financing package.
The Lockport police officers union is expected to urge the Common Council today to spend $272,000 to upgrade the police department’s radio equipment and keep dispatching in-house.
City leaders for weeks have discussed whether to let Lockport Police Department continue to handle its own dispatching or have LPD utilize Niagara County’s dispatch center. Should LPD join the county’s center, the city could either carve out a separate frequency for LPD or utilize a shared frequency, which is used by every law enforcement agency in the county except Niagara Falls Police Department.
