Fortunately, more and more agencies are starting to embrace unmanned aerial systems technology (drones) by first responders
By Christopher Vondracek
Everywhere veteran firefighter Charles Werner
travels, he hears about drones. He
recently attended a Texas convention for public safety officers where some
drone operators told him they practically had to sneak out of work because they
are so in-demand.
Werner, who now serves as the Chief of Public Safety for DroneUp,
an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) facilitator for commercial and government uses,
stated, “It’s really not about the drone, but about the data that comes from it.”
Werner rattled off a list of situations where public safety
officers are better equipped to provide assistance on-scene, thanks to a drone:
search-and-rescue from the California desert to the volcanoes in Hawaii, where
drones can capture data about fissure movement and lava flows, to the floods in
Texas or Florida-where a burst or overrun dam can be monitored.
Fortunately, more and more agencies are starting to embrace unmanned aerial systems technology (drones) by first responders. With the addition of FirstNet and its first-responder-dedicated communications network, Werner, a 40-year fire department veteran who served for ten years as fire chief of Charlottesville, Virginia, stated the moment for takeoff is now.
“Any public safety agency that doesn’t have a drone or drone
program is negligent in my opinion,” said Werner. He described a taste-and-see approach many
local departments take to technology that can excite and incite fears for
public overreach. “Most of these agencies go in and start small and they do it
just for themselves, but as soon as they start having some successful missions,
others want to be involved, too.”
FirstNet’s extra layer of spectrum can provide the data capacity
for drone operators to send data that it gets up in the air back down to earth.
That doesn’t only mean streaming video but also sensory data, such as heat maps
or C02 levels. This data can be vital for the folks on the ground. Werner has
watched up-close how a city can change its perspective on drones. The City of
Charlottesville, where he spent the first 37 years of his 40-year career, was
the first so-called “no drone” city in the country, after the city council
voted to ban UAVs. (A state law later overturned that decision.)
During the violent clashes at the Unite the Right white supremacist
rally in the city in the summer of 2017, a camera strapped to a drone captured
a still image of the moment an assailant’s car struck Heather Heyer. She later died of her injuries. The image, as well as other data, provided
conclusive evidence for a jury to convict the driver, James Alex Fields, of
first-degree murder.
Werner understands the civil liberty concerns, saying that in his
conversations with the ACLU, the need for rules around the storage of data was
privileged. The ACLU told him, “We don’t
care about drones being able to read license plates, we don’t really care about
traffic cameras, what we care about most is the data and how long you store it.
If in three days of a week, you haven’t found anything and write over it, then
that’s fine. But if it’s longer, you need to have the justification written
down in a policy.”
When Werner looks at the new opportunities created by the FirstNet
platform, with its range of spectrum and priority, and-preemption capabilities
for participating first responders, he said the range of opportunities will be
expansive for local agencies.
“Any kind of data is assisted,” said Werner. “You might be doing a
hazmat mark-up and using Flir imagery and without a strong network, you may
have an integrity issue. You need to be
ready for everything. For zoom and infrared, and maybe a catch-and-release for
a flotation device. In short, these operators are flying more than they thought
they would and it’s putting more stress on the network. That’s why
communications are key.”
Werner suggested agencies thinking about purchasing drones
consider teaming up with other agencies in a community or across a region to,
in his words, “spread the burden.” And if Werner’s experience in the
commonwealth is any indication, the rest of the country is seeing a rapid
expansion in this useful technology.
“In Virginia, two years ago there were only two public safety agencies with drones,” said Werner. “Today, that’s advanced to nearly fifty.”
Christopher Vondracek is a
freelance journalist living in Washington D.C., most recently with Courthouse News.
Heat-seeking drones helped reassure searchers that they hadn’t overlooked anyone in the aftermath of the twister that killed 23 people
This 2018 photo provided by the Menlo Fire UAS
SOURCE: firerescue1.com
DATE: March 7, 2019
Rescue crews didn’t have to stumble through every destroyed building in their search for victims after a tornado ravaged a corner of Alabama this week: They used heat-seeking drones to let them know whether there was anyone beneath the ruins.
In so doing, they joined the increasing ranks of public safety agencies across the U.S. and around the world that have employed unmanned thermal-imaging aircraft during critical situations, including manhunts, wildfires and other natural disasters.
In tornado-stricken Alabama, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said Tuesday it was not clear if drones spotted any bodies or anyone injured or trapped in the debris. But at the least, they helped reassure searchers that they hadn’t overlooked anyone in the aftermath of the twister that killed 23 people.
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When it comes to emergency communications in the National Capital Region, Dave Mulholland has seen it all. Originally a member of the U.S. Park Police, Mulholland later took on the role of Statewide Communications Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC) for the District of Columbia where, among other duties, he helped plan and manage emergency communications for large-scale events in the nation’s capital. Today, he serves as the Administrator for the Arlington County (Va.) Emergency Communications Center, which supports more than 225,000 residents and handles upwards of 440,000 calls every year. Public Safety Advocacy Director Dave Buchanan recently sat down with him to discuss his experiences with public safety communications in the National Capital Region for the Public Safety First podcast.
OMB currently classifies 9-1-1 dispatchers as clerical workers—the same category as secretaries, office clerks, and taxicab dispatchers
The 911 SAVES Act would update this classification to appropriately reflect the important role of 9-1-1 dispatchers in directing emergency response and providing lifesaving emergency medical instruction
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Representatives Norma J. Torres (CA-35), the only former 9-1-1 dispatcher serving in Congress, and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1), a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent and federal prosecutor, introduced H.R. 1629, the bipartisan 911 Supporting Accurate Views of Emergency Services (SAVES) Act to reclassify 9-1-1 call-takers and dispatchers from “Office and Administrative Support Occupations” to “Protective Service Occupations” in the Office of Management and Budget Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) catalog. The current classification reflects an outdated, misinformed view of the nation’s 100,000 public safety telecommunicators. The 911 SAVES Act is the first bill of its kind to give 9-1-1 dispatchers the recognition they deserve for the work they do every day to protect and save the lives of the public and first responders.
“After more than 17 years as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, I know firsthand the challenges our public safety dispatchers face, the stress they are put under, and the critical importance of their work. Without dispatchers, law enforcement, firefighters, and EMTs wouldn’t be able to do their jobs,” said Congresswoman Torres. “The 911 SAVES Act recognizes the significance of these roles and ensures all classification standards put public safety first. I’m proud to work with Congressman Fitzpatrick to finally give 9-1-1 dispatchers their due—making us all safer in the long run.”
“As a former FBI Agent, I know the work done by our 9-1-1 operators and dispatchers is critical for the safety of our community. When we are in danger, we call 9-1-1 and rely on those on the other end of the line to make sure we get the help we need,” said Congressman Fitzpatrick. “This legislation will give our 9-1-1 operators and dispatchers the resources, benefits, and recognition they deserve.”
Specifically, the 911 SAVES Act would direct OMB to update their classification for public safety telecommunicators as a protective service within the SOC catalog. Federal agencies rely on the SOC, a vast catalog of occupations, for statistical purposes. Including public safety telecommunicators in the protective service group would make the SOC a more accurate and useful resource, and would better align the SOC with related classification systems.
The bill has been endorsed by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International, the NENA: The 9-1-1 Association, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also applauds all efforts to get 9-1-1 operators the designation they deserve.
APCO Executive Director and CEO Derek K. Poarch said, “The work performed by Public Safety Telecommunicators is nothing short of extraordinary, and it is 100% ‘protective.’ Passage of the 9-1-1 SAVES Act will be a win for public safety, and APCO’s going to do everything it can to help make sure that happens.”
NENA President Jamison Peevyhouse said, “We applaud Rep. Torres, a longtime supporter of the 9-1-1 community, and Rep. Fitzpatrick for their leadership on this issue. NENA and its members have long advocated for an accurate statistical classification for 9-1-1 professionals to support critical research into the mental and physical impacts of 9-1-1 jobs. We urge all members of Congress to support this non-partisan, cost-free measure that reflects the respect and support the American public has for its 9-1-1 professionals, who answer more than 240 million calls for help every year.”
“Dispatchers play an essential role in saving lives and in helping me do my job safely. They are our eyes and ears before we arrive on scene. They receive advanced training to effectively assess a situation, ask the right questions, and communicate vital information so that we know what to expect when we get to the scene of an emergency,” said Lindsay Washington, an Emergency Medical Technician and local president of EMS Workers United/AFSCME District Council 20. “911 dispatchers deserve the benefits and respect a first responder classification affords.”
“In my time at the Federal Communications Commission, I have had the privilege of visiting dozens of public safety answering points, including the one where Congresswoman Torres once worked as a 911 operator,” said Commissioner Rosenworcel. “911 operators are public safety heroes. They save lives every day. It’s time they are given the government classification they deserve. Kudos to Representatives Torres and Fitzpatrick for their efforts to make this happen.”
Torres and Fitzpatrick were joined in introducing the bill by original co-sponsors Representatives Donna Shalala (FL-27), Ro Khanna (CA-17), Grace Napolitano (CA-32), Pete Stauber (MN-8), Mark Meadows (NC-11), and Susan Wild (PA-7).
Torres is a member of the House Appropriations and Rules Committee. Prior to her time in Congress, she spent more than 17 years working as a 9-1-1 dispatcher. Torres is a member of the Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus and has introduced the Next Generation (NG) 9-1-1 Act of 2017 to strengthen federal efforts to help state and local governments to transition to NG9-1-1 technology by providing new federal funding, technical assistance, and training, while ensuring 911 is kept under state and local control. She has long led calls to ensure 9-1-1 professionals receive the recognition and respect they deserve for their lifesaving work.
Congressman Fitzpatrick spent 14 years as an FBI Supervisory Special Agent fighting political corruption and supporting global counterterrorism efforts – including being embedded with U.S. Special Forces as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Emergency Medical Technician, and served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney focused on drug crimes.
Whether Verizon and FirstNet—the nationwide public-safety network being built by AT&T—should support secure interoperability between subscribers of both systems was the topic of a spirited debate yesterday at IWCE 2019 between consultants who work with Verizon and AT&T.
SOURCE: Urgent Communications
DATE: March 5, 2019
In building FirstNet, AT&T established a physically separate LTE core to manage FirstNet subscriber traffic, providing public-safety users with priority and preemption rights over commercial traffic across AT&T’s network, including all of its existing LTE spectrum bands. Verizon has said it will match FirstNet functionality, providing priority and preemption through a virtual public-safety LTE core on its broadband network.
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New technologies for public safety communications are coming online through the nationwide buildout of FirstNet.
SOURCE: Technically Baltimore
DATE: March 5, 2019
On Hazelwood Avenue in Baltimore County, there’s a new addition to the area’s wireless network for first responders: A new cell site, or tower, will help to expand communications coverage during emergencies, events or during every day needs.
It’s one of the upgrades that’s part of FirstNet, a wireless communications platform being built out by AT&T around the country through a public-private partnership. It’s designed to modernize public safety communications; Maryland opted in about 18 months ago.
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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.
