Group offers support to first responders (Canada)

Group offers support to first responders (Canada)



As calls from other first responder organizations filtered into the employee wellness team at the Brandon Police Service, it became abundantly clear to Const. Amanda Conway that more support for these groups was needed.

“I had the idea of making a multi-organizational team, a multi-agency team where just the representatives from the first responder organizations within the city and the local area, get together and discuss what they were doing, come up with ideas, do some promotion and share ideas,” Conway said.

Conway approached Cpl. Annalisa Dey-Thomas, who was the wellness officer for the RCMP in D Division at the time.

Together, they created Project Resilience 911. The organization was born out of the first responder organizations approaching Conway wanting to partake in what the employee wellness team was doing at Brandon Police Service…

A plea to first responders: Join FirstNet to expand your communications options

Decision-making. We all have our methods, but how can you be sure you’re not making decisions that leave a better choice on the table? When budget dollars are tight and expectations are high, it helps to get critical procurement decisions right the first time, and the best way to accomplish that is to truly understand your choices.

Optimizing technology in order to meet the expectations of your citizens and administrators is no longer optional. The slow burn of technological advancement within public safety has hit what might best be described as the powder keg of progress. With it comes stiff competition for your precious budget dollars and an inherent expectation your team is already leveraging every technological advantage most 12-year-olds use every day. When it comes to under-utilizing readily available technology to best serve, “I didn’t know about it” will not be a defense…

Promoting Collaboration: Telecommunicators and Field Responders

Promoting Collaboration: Telecommunicators and Field Responders

Collaboration is the key to any good partnership. As a public safety telecommunicator or a responder, the radio can become just a voice on the other end of the line, and not a real person. As our small, law enforcement-run agency expanded in rural South Dakota, we wanted to maintain our connection to field responders with whom we interacted daily.

The Watertown South Dakota 9-1-1 Center had great partnerships with our law enforcement officers. However, we struggled with communicating our dispatch procedures to our area ambulance and fire departments. In a few years, we had grown from dispatching for two counties to six, and taken on dozens of fire and ambulance agencies…



State of Michigan Selects GeoComm for Statewide Next Generation 9-1-1 GIS Project

GeoComm is excited to announce their selection by the State of Michigan to provide GIS data assessment and improvement services to counties across the state to support their Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) migration.

As the State of Michigan prepares for its transitions to a NG9-1-1 environment the need for a robust GIS environment at local, regional, and statewide agencies dramatically increases. This project, which will be completed by the end of 2021, includes utilizing GeoComm’s proven assess, improve, and maintain process to empower public safety agencies throughout the state to achieve Public Safety Grade GIS data… READ MORE

OREGON 9-1-1 IMPROVED BY TECHNOLOGY

n May of 2021, Oregon became the first state in the nation to partner with an emergency response data platform, RapidSOS, to utilize more accurate location information for the purposes of responding to calls. Since then, these location services have already helped emergency responders arrive where they’re needed faster.  

Using RapidSOS, Oregon 9-1-1 centers are able to see much more accurate location data of cell phone callers, where in the past they were forced to rely on imprecise location cues from wireless service providers. Now, instead of only being able to see the cell tower a caller is tapping into, call centers are securely delivered data from smartphone GPS technology… READ MORE  

Lincoln County Dispatchers Receive Stork Awards (ME)

Lincoln County Dispatchers Receive Stork Awards (ME)

Communications Director Tara Doe presents the Maine EMS for Children Stork Award to Lincoln County Dispatcher Jennifer Gosselin during the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 20. (Charlotte Boynton photo)

Communications Director Tara Doe presents the Maine EMS for Children Stork Award to Lincoln County Dispatcher Jennifer Gosselin during the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 20. (Charlotte Boynton photo)

Lincoln County Communications Director Tara Doe presented the Maine Emergency Medical Services for Children’s Program Stork Awards to dispatchers Jennifer Gosselin and Josiah Winchenbach during the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, July 20.

Maine EMS and Maine EMS for Children program recognizes individuals that perform a field delivery of a newborn baby with a stork pin, pink for female newborn and blue for male newborns. Individual’s eligibility includes EMS providers, public safety personnel, firefighters, police officers, and dispatchers when instructions are provided during the delivery by phone…