The former head of an emergency call center in Washington, D.C., will return to her top position just over a year after she resigned amid scrutiny of ineffective handling of 911 calls.
Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that she would reappoint Karima Holmes as director of the Office of Unified Communications, which fields all 911- and 311-related calls, despite her stepping down in 2021 following accusations that she bungled emergency situations, wasting valuable seconds due to struggles to locate callers…
A committee of County Commissioners has issued their recommendation for the new director at 911 Central Dispatch.
Livingston County Administrator Nathan Burd was before the Courts, Public Safety, and Infrastructure and Development Committee on Tuesday with the lead candidate for Dispatch Director. That candidate is Kecia Williams.
Burd said Williams has 3 decades of experience in dispatch and has held leadership positions in centers that are both larger and smaller than Livingston County’s. She is currently the Dispatch Manager for the West Bloomfield Township Police Department…
The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a bill requiring 911 public safety operators to complete telecommunicator cardiopulmonary resuscitation training every two years.
Filed by Sen. Danny Burgess, SB 890 is now ready for full Senate consideration. Its counterpart (HB 593), filed by Rep. Dana Trabulsy, could be considered by the full House on Thursday. The bills are similar but not identical…
Six counties from across Maryland staged a 9-1-1 expo with live call-taking from a remote and crowded location using FirstNet. The expo was conducted at the Maryland Association of Counties’ winter conference.
FirstNet Authority
By John Hunt, Senior Public Safety Advisor and 9-1-1/Emergency Communications Expert, First Responder Network Authority and Lori Stone, Senior Public Safety Advisor, First Responder Network Authority
If the 9-1-1 community learned anything from the pandemic, it’s the need to plan for alternate ways to work. Rather than be tied to workstations at fixed locations, 9-1-1 telecommunicators need flexibility to remotely take, dispatch, and supervise calls. In December 2021, Maryland telecommunicators put FirstNet, America’s public safety broadband network, to the test, demonstrating the network’s connectivity and reliability during remote operations….
CALEXICO — For the past few months, Calexico Police Department traffic controllers have been utilizing push-to-talk radios that have benefited the department in several ways.
The radios replaced Motorola radios that were not connected to the local Regional Communication Services system that the city’s police, Fire Department and public safety dispatchers are connected to, thereby expanding the city’s interoperable communication services.
The radios, supplied by AT&T through its FirstNet system, also can be utilized by patrol officers in the event that the Regional Communication Services (RCS) becomes inoperable, thereby providing the department with a backup emergency communication system…
February 23, 2022 – Following the recent announcements concerning spectrum from the Federal Communication Commission, agency chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel revealed Tuesday a proposal to use proceeds from upcoming spectrum auctions to update the national 9-1-1 system, according to an FCC press release.
The next generation 9-1-1 system allows callers to send emergency responders photos, videos and text messages, instead of just calls. For example, these upgrades would include sharing pictures and videos of the emergency during the emergency and sharing medical records instantaneously… READ MORE
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.
