by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 7, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
FCC Commissioners Brendan Carrr and Nathan Simington say the agency is letting wireless carriers off the hook over 911 vertical location obligations after agreements with AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon were announced Thursday.
Vertical location, or z-axis, data provided to dispatchers is meant to help emergency responders find wireless 911 callers more quickly when they’re located in multi-story buildings like apartments or offices…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
It’s been a heck of a ride for David Johnson.
On May 27 he hung up his headset and retired after 36 years of working in the Somerset County Department of Emergency Services. Those years held many calls for Johnson, nicknamed “JJ,” including United Flight 93 crashing near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, and the Salisbury tornadoes in May 1998.
Johnson worked for Somerset County 911 since Aug. 1, 1985, when he started as a part-time employee…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 6, 2021 | Comm Center News
MONTICELLO – Sullivan County Public Safety Commissioner Rick Sauer has resigned from his position effective July 9 and will become the emergency services director for Sampson County, North Carolina.
Sauer served as Sullivan County commissioner of Public safety for the past 3 ½ years and for the past 30 years as a member of several different organizations including the State Police and Liberty Fire Department. “It has been a very difficult choice to move on, but I think it is the best decision for my family,” he said.
Sauer has served as commissioner since 2017, overseeing the 911 communications center, probation, emergency medical services, fire services and emergency management…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 6, 2021 | Comm Center News
The city of Fairbanks has four union collective bargaining agreements (CBA’s) covering most of the 182 authorized positions. Some of these contracts are fairly easy to negotiate, but others take much more time. It is difficult for new council members to read the lengthy contracts and to thoroughly understand them. There has been much discussion in the past about trying to reduce the number of CBAs, but each is unique to the department they cover making any consolidation impractical.
The Police Department and Communications Center are covered by a contract with the Public Safety Employees Association (PSEA) with the exception of the police chief who is in the IBEW bargaining unit. Last year, an effort was started to separate out just six employees from this unit and form a fifth CBA entitled Fairbanks Police Command Unit (FPCU). Ordinance number 6169 is currently in front of the City Council to create this unit and advanced on a 4 to 3 vote to a public hearing on June 14…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 6, 2021 | Comm Center News
Storm season is coming with potential disasters from coast to coast. But this year, first responders won’t have to face them alone. AT&T’s FirstNet has stationed more than 30 trained Labradoodles nationwide to offer them support on the front lines—easing the depression and anxiety that can come with disaster response.
AT&T’s FirstNet is the only nationwide, high-speed broadband communications platform built for America’s first responders and the public safety community, with a dedicated, nationwide fleet of 80+ land-based and airborne portable cell sites. Its Response Operations Group (ROG) deploys the system in disasters, allowing first responders to make rescues and communicate even in the hardest-hit remote areas. More than 16,000 public safety agencies and organizations subscribe to FirstNet, accounting for more than 2.2 million connections nationwide…
by AllThingsECC.com | Jun 6, 2021 | Comm Center News
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Kansas was as high as 12.6% in April 2020.
And the COVID-19 pandemic brought higher-than-usual unemployment rates, which Melanie Bergers and the dispatch center in Shawnee County were hoping would mean an increase in applications for open positions.
No such influx of job inquiries ensued.
Bergers, director of communications at the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office, said the dispatch center was understaffed throughout 2020 and 2021, and typically paid about 600 hours of overtime every two weeks for the past year…
