by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 25, 2021 | Comm Center News
Here are the top stories today in Pawtucket:
- Rhode Island is suffering from a serious emergency dispatcher shortage. While the national average turnover rate for dispatcher positions is 15 to 20 percent, the regional dispatch center for Pawtucket and North Providence has had to replace about six of its 10 dispatchers in the past two years alone. Factors like a stressful work environment, low pay, and long hours have contributed to this labor shortage, and some employees only work as dispatchers until they can become police officers or firefighters. The regional center is prepared to invest over $44,000 this year to add another full-time dispatcher… READ MORE
by ECC Editor | Oct 25, 2021 | Comm Center News, Uncategorized
The issue of dispatch services in the city of Oconomowoc has been a topic of discussion for years, and now officials have decided to disband the local dispatch center at its public safety building in favor of a countywide option.
At an Oct. 19 meeting, the Oconomowoc Common Council voted 6-2 to transfer dispatch operations to the Waukesha County Communications Center. According to the motion, the transfer could be completed within six months or less, but an exact timetable was not set… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 25, 2021 | Comm Center News
Both the Ottumwa City Council and Wapello County Board of Supervisors will receive a presentation for a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system that would tie in all the county’s emergency personnel together.
County emergency manager Tim Richmond, Ottumwa Police Department chief Chad Farrington and Wapello County Sheriff Don Phillips will make a presentation to the supervisors Tuesday morning, then later to the city council.
The system will offer an overhaul of the current system, which is at least 20 years old. Both the city and county have expressed the possibility of using American Rescue Plan funds to share in the cost, which would be about $500,000…
by ECC Editor | Oct 25, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News, Uncategorized
Last week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) entered into Consent Decrees with eight Covered 911 Service Providers for failing to timely file their required 911 reliability certification in 2020.
The Rules
As background, the FCC adopted rules in 2013 aimed at improving 911 network reliability. The rules require Covered 911 Service Providers (“Providers”) to take certain measures to provide reliable 911 service. The specific measures adopted by the agency attempt to address three network vulnerabilities identified by the FCC in the aftermath of the derecho storm that knocked out 911 service along the east coast in 2012… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 25, 2021 | Comm Center News
During the Pike County Fiscal Court meeting on Oct. 19, Pike County Emergency Management Director Doug Tackett informed the court that his department had been turned down by the National Homeland Security and by Kentucky Homeland Security for grants to upgrade the communication system used by emergency responders.
“We have not received any letter yet from the Kentucky Homeland Security as to why we were turned down for the grant,” Tackett said. “We are expecting a letter from them in the next few days with that explanation…
by AllThingsECC.com | Oct 25, 2021 | Comm Center News
An Allentown man and his 14-year-old nephew died in a fire in July 2020 because a Lehigh County 911 dispatcher did not understand his pleas for help in Spanish and hung up the call, a federal lawsuit by a group of former dispatchers alleges.
The seven supervisors and dispatchers who say they were fired for reporting mismanagement in the dispatch center also allege they saw dispatchers and supervisors sleeping on the job, doing outside work, watching movies so loudly they drowned out emergency communications, playing cornhole during working hours and other misconduct. In another instance, a dispatcher missed emergency calls related to shootings because he went to the roof of the county administration building to watch fireworks, the suit says.
The lawsuit alleges Spanish-speaking callers were often denied help because some 911 dispatchers said they “do not like taking calls from Spanish people”… READ MORE
