AUSTIN (KXAN) — South by Southwest is here and so are the crowds.
“Thousands upon thousands of more people coming to Austin,” said Lt. Ken Murphy, the head of emergency communications with the Austin Police Department.
“Instead of overloading those sectors with special events calls, we separate them out, so we just have the regular calls going to the regular radio channels,” said Murphy. He also said emergency communications can’t pull from outside agencies like patrol does, because the systems are too different…
Garfield County’s emergency services operate with 21 people directly responsible for running dispatch but only two speak Spanish, a Garfield County official said to the county’s Latino Community Committee on Wednesday.
“But one isn’t very fluent,” said Tom Holman, Garfield County Emergency Communications Authority operations manager.
Instead, when Garfield County’s 911 dispatch center cannot directly communicate in Spanish, they use a third-party interpretation service…
BELOIT, Wis. — First responders in Rock County, Wisconsin, showed off their musical talent and dance skills with a new music video.
Earlier this month, the Rock County 911 Communications Center shared the “Sheesh” music video on YouTube, which shows cops, firefighters and more responders grooving to music by Surfaces and Tai Verdes. In the video, employees throw a beach party in the dead of a Wisconsin winter, complete with a cookout, kayaking (on a frozen lake), snow angels and other chilly lawn games…
For Branch County 911 Director Bob Swick, the search continues to fill dispatchers positions at Central Dispatch.
His office turned to some high-tech tools to screen applicants to fill the high-stress jobs, which are lifelines 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round for residents and emergency responders.
“We’ve got some new testing things we’ve picked up and hopefully that’ll help us in our hiring,” Swick told his board this week…
Luzerne County’s long-awaited new 911 emergency radio communication system should be operational by July 1 if all construction, installation and testing is completed on schedule, county Interim Operational Services Division Head Fred Rosencrans told council last week.
Rosencrans said he has been working with council members since 2016 to advance and complete the $23.16 million project.
The project’s addition of emergency communication towers and new microwave dishes and antennas will address spotty or nonexistent radio coverage in parts of the 980-square mile, largely mountainous county, he said…
FAYETTEVILLE — Dispatchers for the city have continued to answer calls and get emergency responders where they need to go in a timely manner, but it’s been more of a grind than usual, according to the police chief.
The city’s dispatch center experienced high turnover last year. Thirteen of 25 employees quit over the course of the year, prompting supervisors to work the radio, light duty officers to help check information and dispatchers to work overtime, Police Chief Mike Reynolds said. The City Council approved an extra position for the dispatch center in this year’s budget, and now 20 of 26 positions are filled, he said…
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.
