The Ten-Year Plan was developed in partnership with CTC Energy and Technology and Rural Innovations Strategies, Inc.
The 365-page Plan provides an overview of the current state of telecommunications services and facilities in the state, current trends in usage and adoption, and recommendations for improving access to broadband services throughout Vermont.
Specifically, the plan provides a roadmap to achieving the state’s most pressing telecommunications and broadband goals, including:
Bringing every currently unserved and underserved on-grid Vermont home access to 100/100 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband that can be scalable to faster speeds as demand warrants;
Leveraging residential fiber deployments into better mobile voice coverage along key roadways and in small communities;
Ensuring that telecommunications systems are resilient, redundant, secure, and future-proof for commercial, consumer, and public safety needs…
BELLEFONTE — Some Centre County employees will see more money in their paychecks very soon.
During Thursday’s salary board meeting, the board approved a $5 per hour pay hike for Centre County workers at both the Emergency Communications Center and the Centre County Correctional Facility.
The commissioners said on Tuesday that the situation was dire. Citing low level staffing numbers at the county prison and the county 911 center, county administrators approved the pay hike with hopes that the new incentive will retain current employees while and get new hires on board quickly. Needless to say, both the Emergency Communications Center and the Centre County Correctional Facility need staffing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year…
ST. LOUIS — On a recent afternoon, just two dispatchers were tasked with answering all St. Louis 911 and nonemergency police calls for their full eight-hour shifts.
The 911 wait time about 3:30 p.m. that day was eight minutes, with the longest hold time glaring at the dispatchers under a red line on their computer screens.
Waiting callers got the same message on repeat: “You have reached the 911 center for the city of St. Louis. All operators are busy at this time. Please do not hang up. Your call will be answered in the order received.”
When gunshots ring out in a neighborhood, a police scanner can come in handy. News reporters listen to scanner traffic to piece together what is happening. Sometimes residents tune in via cellphone apps.
Now, more and more, that source of information is being cut off. Most law enforcement agencies in San Diego County have encrypted or will encrypt their radio communications, limiting access to real-time information about crimes and other public safety matters…
IONIA — Ionia County is bringing in an experienced candidate to serve as its next director of Central Dispatch.
The Ionia County Board of Commissioners voted 6-0 Tuesday, July 13, to hire Lance Langdon as the next leader of its emergency response center. Langdon formerly served in the same position in Ingham County before retiring and most recently worked in retail as an assistant manager.
“We interviewed three people and unanimously decided that Lance Langdon was the person for the job,” District Two Commissioner Larry Tiejema said Tuesday. “He has a number of years of experience as a 911 director of Ingham County. He helped to consolidate a number of 911s into one unified 911.” …
Cobb County E911 Director Melissa Alterio announced in a news release on the Cobb County website that her department was accredited for the seventh time by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA).
Cobb County E911 was first accredited by CALEA in 2002. Reassessments are conducted every four years.
According to the news release, “Only approximately one percent of over 8,500 communications agencies nationwide can claim the recognition of being a CALEA accredited communications agency.”
Due to the COVID-18 pandemic, the reassessment was conducted virtually on July 15…
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
