![“Hello, this is 911, what is your emergency?” (ID) ([Editorial]](https://allthingsecc.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/61328af39f372.image_.jpg)
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
I can’t say I remember it, but I had just celebrated my fifth birthday.
My parents, like all others, gave me some presents. I’d wager that there was also a Dairy Queen ice cream cake involved at some point.
It had to have been a happy day.
48 hours on from that day, the whole of America was a very somber place.
Four planes had been hijacked by Al-Qaeda, two of them destroying the World Trade Center, one smashing into the Pentagon, and one crash landing into a field in rural Pennsylvania.
Too young to remember the attacks for myself, I had to have been just as confused about the magnitude of the situation as every other child in the country.
Over the years, video of the attacks slowly but surely would be ingrained into my memory, filling in the blanks that eluded my younger mind.Firefighters about to be engulfed by a massive dust cloud. Police running over piles of shattered concrete and tangled, twisted metal beams. Dispatch call audio being played over alternating camera feeds of New York City….
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2021 | Comm Center News
Release:
This semester, Valdosta State University students are getting hands-on experience working with the Valdosta Fire and Police to create a social media strategy plan for each department.
Recognizing that organizations all over the world — including public safety agencies — are using social media to communicate with increasingly diverse and large audiences, the city’s Public Information Office continued a partnership with VSU’s Social Media Theory class that began in 2015. Taught by Dr. David Nelson, the students are divided into groups and tasked with developing a realistic social media plan that targets and engages millennials in their local government. The project will then be judged by the city’s Public Information Office and both chiefs to constitute a large part of their overall class grade and provided a real-life experience for the university students…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 9, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Drones—Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
Concern is growing within the public-safety ranks about citizens flying drones over incidents that call for first responders. When incidents involve wildfires, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) usually declares no-fly zones up to 5,000 feet above the fires. I am told some drones can receive no-fly zone alerts and they will not fly into no-fly areas. Unfortunately, more common, less expensive drones do not have that capability.
When a drone is reported in the area of an incident, planes and helicopters (helos) are grounded and cannot assist when needed during wildfires and under certain other circumstances. Because of this, many within the public-safety community are calling for the FAA and potentially the FCC to permit public-safety personnel to disable drones flown by citizens or reporters and to recommend ways to do so. It is reckless for people to continue to fly drones into areas where public safety must be able to monitor the safety of equipment and personnel assisting them from above. There are hefty fines for violating FAA rules but first, someone has to find the person flying the drone and he/she must be arrested. Perhaps some of our military’s methods for disabling drones would be appropriate for public-safety use…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 8, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
The National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the final version of a Cybersecurity Practice Guide for first responders.
The NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide SP 1800-13, Mobile Application Single Sign-On: Improving Authentication for Public Safety First Responders (PSFRs) was developed in collaboration with industry stakeholders and NIST’s Public Safety Communications Research Lab.
To provide emergency care and support, PSFR personnel rely on mobile platforms to access public safety data. Among the data that PSFRs must access in the performance of their roles is personally identifiable information, law enforcement sensitive information, and protected health information…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 8, 2021 | Comm Center News
HEADLAND, Ala. (WTVY) – Henry County first responders are in the process of transitioning to a unified dispatch. The county’s E-911 director believes it’s a move in the right direction for the citizens.
E-911 Director Chad Sowell says this is about providing the best emergency response service.
“The transition has just been getting equipment installed at the city of Headland for the Headland Police Department, making sure we can accommodate the extra call volume,” Sowell said…
by AllThingsECC.com | Sep 8, 2021 | Comm Center News
CHICAGO (CBS) — Keith Thornton Jr. was the guiding voice during our city’s most recent line-of-duty tragedy – the murder of Chicago Police Officer Ella French.
The Office of Emergency Management and Communications dispatcher was applauded for his decisive action over the radio that night.
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey sat down with Thornton to talk about that night — and his campaign to change the future for dispatchers in the future…
