by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
GROSSE POINTE FARMS, Mich. – Beginning Tuesday, Nov. 30, citizens anywhere in the Grosse Pointe communities and Harper Woods will be able to send text messages directly to 911 in case of an emergency.
Having the option to text during an emergency is beneficial to everyone who does not have the opportunity to express the severity of the matter, especially for the hearing impaired, speech disabled, and those engaged in acts such as home invasions or an abusive partner name a few…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 2, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance’s (PSSA) stay request for the previous FCC’s plan to take back the 50 MHz of 4.9-GHz spectrum it had granted to public safety in 2002. Claiming it is under-utilized, the FCC planned to hand this spectrum over to each state. The idea was that each state would award a master lease for the spectrum to a third party, which would then determine what the spectrum would be used for in that state.
Most recently, the FCC issued the Eighth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the 4.9-GHz spectrum (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, WP Docket 07-100). This NPRM contains language which, if accepted by the commissioners, would return the spectrum to the public-safety community…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
The Bloomington Communications Center is the first dispatch center in Illinois to earn accreditation from the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch in part for its handling of calls with diligence and respect. That’s not an easy thing to do in the middle of a crisis.
No day is the same for telecommunicators handling 911 calls. Working in dispatch means one has to be prepared for anything.
City of Bloomington Telecommunicator and Trainer Bobbie Jo Smith says when the phone rings, you have to separate regular life from work…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 2, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
By Kim Coleman Madsen, Senior Public Safety Advisor, First Responder Network Authority
The Boulder FirstNet Lab is a state-of-the-art laboratory in which the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) tests public safety functionality and features unique to the FirstNet network. Experts in the lab in Boulder, Colorado, have the capabilities to carry out network validation and testing of features such as priority, preemption, quality of service, and public safety-specific applications. READ FULL ARTICLE
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 2, 2021 | Comm Center News
This commentary is by Stephen Whitaker of Montpelier, an author who has worked for 30 years on integrating planning, government transparency and accountability, public records access and more recently utility networks resiliency.
We should all take some time to appreciate that in Vermont we don’t have dozens of people drowning in a desperate, overcrowded raft accident, crossing the English Channel to safety. Or adults and children burning to death in a bus crash returning from Hajj, as in Bulgaria. Or maliciously mowed down at a holiday parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Our public safety may often be taken for granted in Vermont. But it’s important to recognize the very real need for substantial investments in, and ongoing maintenance of, our public safety infrastructure. These investments are essential to assure that not only can we call for help when we or a loved one needs it, but that those responding will have reliable communications service everywhere necessary to deliver that assistance…
by AllThingsECC.com | Dec 1, 2021 | Comm Center News
SEATTLE – Calls for help are sometimes meeting long delays as the city’s 911 system finds itself understaffed and overwhelmed.
It is a potentially critical collapse in Seattle’s public safety net and it could be months before the problem is solved. Until then, a balancing act is underway to better prioritize emergency calls. READ MORE
