by ECC Editor | Feb 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
How would you respond to an agitated caller who tells you he has a sawed-off shotgun pointed at his face and is going to kill himself unless you can give him a reason to live?
That’s the kind of scenario that 911 dispatchers at the Volusia Sheriff’s Office Communications Center face regularly. It’s their job to find out what’s wrong and keep the caller alive as well as the police, firefighters and paramedics who are sent to the scene to help… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 7, 2021 | Comm Center News
TUSCON, Ariz. — A police department trying to summon help for a woman in cardiac arrest called twice and spent more than four minutes on hold with Tucson’s 911 center before someone answered the call, a report from the center’s interim 911 director said.
The lapse in service during the medical call from Marana occurred two weeks before the director of Tucson’s 911 suddenly quit her $175,000 position after 14 months on the job, public records show…
by ECC Editor | Feb 5, 2021 | Comm Center News
Roxanne Van Gundy, director of the Lyon County Emergency Communications Center, requested that the commission pay annual fees as well as an extra expense due to the City of Emporia for the county’s part of the computer-aided dispatch system it shares with the city. Commissioners clarified that these fees were paid from 911 funds and not with taxpayer dollars.
Van Gundy discussed new technologies in emergency communications, including text messaging with 911 dispatchers, which can be particularly useful for non-native English speakers… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 5, 2021 | Comm Center News
The commissioners recently approved a new contract for the upgrades to the system. The board entered a three-year agreement with Frontier Communications and will cost $4,960 a month.
The county has received all necessary equipment and installations. She said everything is up on the new system besides the dispatcher software.
Some pieces of the radio system are still being fine-tuned but the new system is up and running…
by ECC Editor | Feb 5, 2021 | Comm Center News
The woman had been sheltering in her van parked at 67 Lincoln Park, in Newark. She called police at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, saying she was unable to leave the van because it was stuck in snow, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose said.
The Public Safety telecommunicator mistakenly logged the address as 67 Lincoln St., so when police arrived, they were unable to locate the navy blue minivan. Authorities called the number back, but no one on the other end picked up… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | Feb 5, 2021 | Articles, Comm Center News
First-responder officials are applauding the recent AT&T announcement that FirstNet agencies now can access vertical-location (Z-axis) information powered by NextNav to find personnel inside taller buildings—a challenging task that has been described by many as the “Holy Grail” of public-safety communications.
Charles Werner, a former fire chief for the city of Charlottesville, Va., said he and others in the public-safety community have been working for decades to obtain vertical-location information to help them find personnel, particularly firefighters in smoke-filled buildings that need help…
