by ECC Editor | Jul 20, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
Four key phases exist in a VoIP project: assessment, design, procurement, and implementation. An independent consultant can bring you an unbiased perspective throughout the journey by identifying potential bottlenecks, estimating budgets, determining what needs to be upgraded or replaced, and developing a set of system requirements to ensure a competitive bid process and smoother implementation. Here, I’ll share an inside view of how to make the most of each phase of the VoIP process—giving you a taste of the value a consultant brings to the table.
VoIP projects typically take six to 12 months to complete, and engaging an outside expert to handle the process takes a burden off your IT department. The consultant can work as part of the IT group, performing many of the tasks necessary to complete critical phases while still allowing oversight from the project team… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
In the heat of the mayoral campaign, candidate and Alderman Cara Spencer zeroed in on St. Louis’ broken 911 emergency call system, declaring that if she were mayor, fixing it would get priority attention. Not to be outdone, Tishaura Jones echoed Spencer’s assessment while asserting that the then-treasurer was the only candidate ready to “hit the ground running” with solutions. While Jones has spent much of her three months in office championing non-urgent causes such as transferring inmates from the city’s medium-security jail or cutting the police budget, one of the most urgent problems — the dysfunctional 911 call system — has gone from bad to worse.
As the Post-Dispatch’s Erin Heffernan reports, understaffing at the city’s 911 call center means people in need of urgent help aren’t getting it. On one recent afternoon, there were only two dispatchers to handle all emergency and nonemergency calls for a full eight-hour shift. The result was that callers had to wait up to eight minutes to speak to a human…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
GREAT BARRINGTON — A police officer who delayed dispatching an ambulance for more than 25 minutes said he had been distracted in the station’s 911 communications center when that call came in, an internal investigation says.
Officer Andres Huertas was disciplined with temporary suspensions, according to documents related to a probe of the episode, obtained by The Eagle.
In a memorandum about the flawed April 26 dispatch, Huertas told Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti that at the time of the call for an ambulance to East Street to assist Luis Del Mar, he was fielding other calls in the dispatch hub, as well as letting people into the lobby at the Main Street station. Del Mar had been struggling for breath and died that night…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
Confusion sometimes arises about Cherokee County’s 911 system, because its operations center houses three agencies for receiving all emergency calls.
CC911 provides dispatchers/call takers who are employed by their own individual agencies, except for the Tahlequah Police Department. The center also handles all fire and EMS in both city and county, to dispatch the appropriate responders.
Emergency calls are routed into CC911, where Northeastern Health System EMS, Cherokee Nation EMS, and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office dispatch are located.
Calls to 911 made within the city limits are routed to the 911 center and then transferred to TPD, just as long as EMS is not needed…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jul 20, 2021 | Comm Center News
The Southside City Council voted to transfer dispatching duties to the Etowah County Communication District — a move that should shave precious minutes off the time it takes to get help on the way in an emergency.
“The move is an attempt to reduce response time by removing a redundant step in the call-taking process,” Southside Fire Chief Wade Buckner said.
Currently, the chief said, when someone in Southside calls 911, the call goes to the Etowah County 911 Center, where dispatchers determine what the emergency is and nature of the call, and get the caller’s information. Then the call is transferred to Southside, where Buckner said the call-taking process starts over again…
by ECC Editor | Jul 19, 2021 | Comm Center News
Six-year-old Mylah Santa Maria called 911 to deliver an urgent message.
“I need y’all to tell the sheriff … that I love him and I love y’all,” Mylah, of Collins, Mississippi, told the dispatcher, according to WDAM7.
“I will make sure that I get that to him, OK?” the dispatcher answered, according to a transcript of the call placed earlier this week.
Covington County Sheriff Darrell Perkins got the message and decided a special thank-you was in order.
He surprised Mylah and her family at their home, giving them school supplies and a special Sheriff’s Department coin, WDAM reported… READ MORE
