by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 14, 2021 | Comm Center News
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — The Oklahoma Highway Patrol is retiring *55 after almost 30 years of use.
Drivers can now call 911 no matter their location in the state, and the call will be routed to the appropriate OHP Communications Center. OHP will become a second public safety answering point.
The *55 number became available in 1992 as a new cellular service that would automatically route a call to the nearest highway patrol headquarters for assistance…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 14, 2021 | Comm Center News
Construction will proceed on a new Hancock County communications tower near Oak Avenue and Highway 18, just east of Duncan.
The county has entered into an agreement with Motorola for the new tower, which has a total projected cost of just over $1.52 million dollars. Without an incentive discount for entering into this particular agreement, the cost of the project would have been more than $1.9 million and likely even higher with rising supply costs.
At the Dec. 13 county supervisors meeting, Hancock County emergency response coordinator Andy Buffington and Shari Schmitz of Motorola both estimated that the project should be completed in two years or less. Buffington said equipment and parts will be shipped to the county’s public safety center and that ample storage space can be found. He said that some tower components will go directly to the site…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 14, 2021 | Comm Center News
METHUEN — Calling 911 in a time of need can no doubt be a harrowing experience, but local residents now have the opportunity to connect with two new calm voices on the other end of the line with the addition of Yenifer Cabreja and Larissa Alves to the Police Department’s dispatch team.
Police Chief Scott McNamara said Cabreja and Alves both graduated from the state 911 Department’s Public Safety Communications Academy last month and began their roles with the department upon graduation. Both women are bilingual, and join a team of 10 dispatchers…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 14, 2021 | Comm Center News
BENTONVILLE — Benton County Central Communications lost electricity when a storm rolled through Friday night, a county official said Monday.
Robert McGowen, county administrator of public safety, said he was notified at 7:27 p.m. Friday that Central Communications, commonly called CenCom, was on generator power. Central Communications lost the generator power at 7:55 p.m., he said.
Central Communications is in the basement of the County Administration Building downtown…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 14, 2021 | Comm Center News
December 14, 2021
The director of Livingston County’s 911 Central Dispatch is leaving for greener pastures.
Chad Chewning tells WHMI that his last day on the job as the Director for Livingston County 911 Central Dispatch will be January 2nd, after which he will become the director of sales for Xybix 911 Furniture Company out of Colorado. That firm manufactures workstations and other equipment for dispatch centers across the country.
Chewning leaves the county’s 911 department after more than four years at the helm, although he has amassed over 34 years in the field. He began his dispatch career at Paramed/AMR Ambulance in 1985, advancing through the ranks to become the Communications Manager from 1988 until 2002. Chewning then went to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office where he served as the Fire Dispatch Quality Assurance Supervisor and second in command. In 2014, he came to Livingston County as the Deputy Director of 911 Central Dispatch until he was promoted into his current role as Director in early 2017…
by ECC Editor | Dec 14, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Each year for the past 12 years, the Federal Communications Commission has gathered information from states and territories about their 911 fee collection, distribution and general operations and put it together in a report to Congress. Usually published in early December of each year, the most recently available report from 2020 covers the calendar year from January 1- December 31 of 2019.
Here are some of the key statistics from the 2020 annual 911 fee report, related to 911 funding around the country for the more than 5,300 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) who answered more than 211.1 million 911 calls during the course of 2019… READ MORE
