FirstNet Provides a Lifeline for Utility Operators

by | Jul 7, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News

By Michael Varney, Director of Stakeholder Collaboration, First Responder Network Authority

Natural disasters and other incidents, large or small, magnify the importance of secure, reliable communications. Network congestion, infrastructure damage, and incompatible radio networks are all problems that prevent responding teams from effectively communicating. In response to these challenges, Congress created the nationwide public safety broadband network, FirstNet, in 2012.

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County radio system upgrade would have $4.99M cost (ME)

County radio system upgrade would have $4.99M cost (ME)

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Comm Center News


DOVER-FOXCROFT — Upgrades cited in the first phase of a feasibility study for a Piscataquis County public safety radio system will cost $4,994,080. This does not include a potential move of the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center out of the cramped conditions inside the jail in Dover-Foxcroft and up Route 15 into the patrol and investigations division building in Guilford.

“This is to get the system up to a prime working system,” Piscataquis County Emergency Management Agency Director Tom Capraro told the county commissioners during a July 6 meeting. He said the price tag is in the $5 million to $6 million range that was estimated before the study commenced…

Pueblo police launch text service to update callers on responses. Here’s how it works (CO)

Pueblo police launch text service to update callers on responses. Here’s how it works (CO)

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Comm Center News

A new type of text service has been launched by the Pueblo Police Department’s dispatching center that will send Puebloans text notifications of their emergency report’s status.

The service was implemented Thursday, July 1 and will allow officers to provide updates on their response times. It also allows citizens to submit feedback to public safety departments at the end of their initial response.

So far, that feedback has been helpful, according to Kim Jeffries, supervisor of the Pueblo Police Department’s dispatching center. She said this text service is separate from an existing service to text 911 for emergency help, which is a two-way service similar to calling the emergency number…

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Reycita Billie, a 15-year public safety communications professional, named to Task Force

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Reycita Billie, a 15-year public safety communications professional, named to Task Force

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Comm Center News

Originally Published: July 6, 2021 9:16 a.m.

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. — Reycita Billie, a 15-year public safety communications professional, was named to the New Mexico Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives Task Force June 30.

During the course of her career, Billie has served in the Crownpoint Police District and was, after 13 years, promoted to the Navajo Police Headquarters to serve as the Criminal Information System Specialist.

Billie has coordinated the use of the national criminal justice information system and is the Navajo Nation’s liaison with Arizona’s criminal justice networks. She has also been a key member of the Navajo Division of Public Safety’s pilot E 9-1-1 rollout and was selected as the Nation’s first Public Safety Answering Point Supervisor.She is an Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) Communications Center Supervisor and the first-ever Public Safety Telecommunicator Instructor for the Navajo Police Department…

State offers grants to police for body cameras; most South Shore departments still without (MA)

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Comm Center News

The state is offering $20 million to police departments to buy body cameras and associated equipment, and smaller police departments will be allowed to band together and submit regional solutions by the end of next month to get one of the first chunks of funding. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security is offering $20 million over the next five years for the purchase of 9,000 body cameras for police officers, spokesman Tim McGuirk said in a news release.

Police departments with fewer than 50 officers “may collaborate” and submit an application with regional partners. Grants are capped at $250,000 and are just for hardware. Departments must adopt policies and procedures before applying.

Quigley said Cohasset is part of the South Shore Regional Emergency Communication Center, along with Hingham, Hull and Norwell, and he will be asking those police chiefs if they have any interest in submitting a joint application…

Beltrami County Communications Officers now certified in Telephone CPR (MN)

by | Jul 6, 2021 | Comm Center News

BEMIDJI — All Beltrami County Communications Officers are now trained and certified in Telephone CPR, or TCPR, enhancing their instruction prior to the arrival of first responders and medical services.

According to a release, the training provided the skills to rapidly detect the need for CPR and how to instruct citizens in performing CPR.

Legislation in 2019 required Minnesota Public Safety Answering Points, or 911 centers, to establish a protocol by July 1, 2021, to provide a minimum level of instruction for CPR when callers who are not trained in CPR are reporting an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest…