After drowning, DC 911 to improve coordination when Fire and EMS seeks aid
The drowning of a grandfather of 17, who jumped into the Washington Channel more than 30 minutes after an initial 911 call, has prompted the District’s Office of Unified Communications to review procedures when Fire and EMS calls for help from police.
David Earl Griffin, 47, died on March 14 after more than a half-hour encounter with ambulance crews, who were initially dispatched at 6:15 p.m. for a drug overdose and classified as Priority 2 — a non-urgent call.
Safety advocate and former reporter Dave Statter, in his Statter911 blog, spoke with police and fire sources, who said DC 911 failed to upgrade the emergency response, during an increasingly dangerous situation…
Emergency Communications Project Expanded to Improve Response Times (TX)
On February 15, 2022, the City of Austin, with partners in Williamson County, went live with a system that extends Automatic Aid for fire dispatch. The new system, Tellus, is an interface that brings together disparate Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems to share information. This allows City of Austin Fire dispatchers to see where the units belonging to Georgetown, Cedar Park, and Round Rock fire departments are located when dispatching for an incident. The CAD system will automatically dispatch the closest unit, regardless of jurisdiction.
“This project is a huge win for our extended community. It allows our dispatch team to identify the closest resources available–regardless of county or city limits–and get them moving to where they’re needed most,” said Fire Chief Joel G. Baker…
Manchester selectmen move dispatch question to Town Election (MA)
MANCHESTER — The future of Manchester’s emergency dispatch service will now be decided in part at this year’s Town Election, and not at Special Town Meeting this summer.
Selectmen voted unanimously earlier this week to feature a non-binding vote “on the future of dispatch” on the election ballot on May 17. The exact wording of the question has yet to be determined.
Selectmen said the move was needed as more voters participate in the Town Election than Town Meeting.
For years, the town has debated whether to join a regional dispatch center instead of having its own employees work the phones at Manchester Police Department. Earlier this month, North Shore Regional 911 Center of Middleton announced it has the capacity to take on all of Manchester’s dispatch services at no cost to the town…
Build a strategy for compliance with federal 911 laws
With federal regulations around 911 calling and location information fully in effect and enforceable, organizations need to ensure their PBX and phone systems are compliant.
“There are obligations for everyone, from the manufacturer and distributor through to the operator of any multiline telephone system,” said Martha Buyer, a telecommunications attorney.
Kari’s Law requires that multiline telephone systems sold, leased or installed after Feb. 16, 2020, support phones directly calling 911 without needing to dial a prefix first. The law also requires that 911 calls have a valid callback number and that appropriate on-site personnel, like security, are notified when a 911 call is made… READ MORE
Verizon has 45% market-share lead in public-safety adoption, keynote speaker says
Verizon Frontline has the greatest level of public-safety broadband adoption of any U.S. carrier, providing almost 4.5 million connections to 30,000 public-safety entities, a Verizon Frontline official said last week. Patty Roze, vice president of public-sector sales for Verizon, cited the statistics during her portion of the company’s keynote presentation on Thursday morning at IWCE 2022 in Las Vegas.
While public-safety officials celebrated the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the law establishing FirstNet last month, AT&T claimed that its network footprint now covers 2.81 million square miles—a figure that was more than 50,000 square miles more than any other U.S. wireless carrier, according to AT&T.
But AT&T’s coverage advantage is much greater than this, based on figures shared by Roze, who mentioned coverage numbers during the keynote while emphasizing Verizon’s considerable financial commitment to build out its wireless network. Based on this coverage figure provided by Roze, AT&T would have a 130,000-square-mile coverage advantage when compared to Verizon…
