AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Thursday, Austin City Council members will vote on an ordinance that would create an Emergency Communications Department to handle 911 calls, separate from Austin Police Department. This is the latest item up for a vote in the city’s efforts to...

DEERFIELD, IL — When you’ve been working together for 40 years, what’s another five. The Deerfield Village Board voted Monday to approve an emergency dispatch service agreement between the Village of Deerfield and the Village of Bannockburn. As part of the agreement, Deerfield will continue providing 24-hour a day answering of all emergency 9-1-1 and police 10-digit emergency telephone calls emanating from within the borders of Bannockburn, among other services, at a total cost of $1,020,216. In 2019, Deerfield formed a consolidated dispatch center and also provides similar services for the villages of Riverwoods and Lincolnshire.The cost of the services for Bannockburn over the course of the next five years breaks down as follows: Year 1 (2021): $190,844Year 2 (2022): $197,227Year 3 (2023): $203,868Year 4 (2024): $210,958Year 5 (2025): $217,319 On April 12, the Village of Bannockburn’s Village Board approved the five-year agreement for Deerfield to continue the services of emergency dispatch. “[The agreement] is substantially similar to what other communities have in place with us. It is a five-year agreement that is financially the same as the other communities,” Deerfield Police Chief John Sliozis said at Monday night’s meeting. “We’ve added some language about IT services, but it will provide substantially similar services to what we’ve been providing them in the past and will continue to serve.” Stay Patched In!

When looking at the minimum qualifications and the amount of training that go into shaping a successful emergency dispatcher and pairing that with the competence required in taking a 9-1-1 call, it certainly is puzzling that these professionals are classified by New...

Burnsville Fire Chief BJ Jungmann says inadequate staffing levels and increasing 911 calls have caused the city's combined fire and ambulance service to fall behind the demands of the community.  In recent years, there've been more than 150 incidents when the...

The Springville Police Department would like to congratulate dispatcher Anna Whitehead Melton with St. Clair County Central Dispatch for receiving the Alabama APCO Award of Excellence for consistently exceeding expectations in emergency communications. Also,...

Public safety communications on the East End got a $1.75 million shot in the arm yesterday from the Suffolk County Legislature.
Legislators unanimously approved bonding and the appropriation of bond proceeds to fund a communications system upgrade that will allow law enforcement agencies and first responders on the East End to communicate with each other and the county police department on the same radio frequencies.
The project provides long-sought communications “inter-operability” for the various law enforcement and public safety agencies on the East End and with county public safety dispatchers — something officials have been working toward since 2001.
It also will provide consistent “portable coverage” with hand-held radios, which officers use when they are out of their vehicles. Currently coverage for hand-held radios is spotty in many locations on the East End, which puts the lives of police officers and the pubic they serve at risk, County Legislator Bridget Fleming said yesterday.
The project funded yesterday will cover the costs of a new communication tower structure, communications and technology equipment in Jamesport. The site has not yet been finalized, according to Legislator Al Krupski’s office.
Future communications upgrades slated for the East End include sites in Eastport and Southampton, Suffolk County Police Department communications director Mike Postel told the legislature’s public safety committee members.
“This is a life and death situation that’s been going on many years on the East End,” Fleming said.
Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki and Sag Harbor Police Chief Austin McGuire spoke in favor of the project at yesterday’s general meeting of the legislature.
McGuire, who is vice president of the East End Police Chiefs Association, told legislators the association supports the effort, which has been in the works since the months following the September 11 terrorist attacks, which highlighted inter-operability deficiencies among law enforcement agencies.
“This will provide seamless communications between county police, other police agencies and first responders,” McGuire said.
Skrynecki agreed. The agencies on the East End operate on different frequencies, the chief said, because they lack the infrastructure to support unified communication.
“This will support that infrastructure and allow us to all operate on the same frequencies,” Skrynecki said.
“It’s very, very critical to public safety as well as the safety of the officers involved,” he said.
The Riverhead Police Department already uses the county radio system, and the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps just upgraded its communication system to one that communicates with the county system — but other East End police departments and first responder agencies are on still using other systems.
The communications project will give the East End Drug Task Force the ability to interface with all the East End police departments, Craig Pavlik of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office told legislators.
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💌 Love Philly? Sign up for the free Billy Penn newsletter to get everything you need to know about Philadelphia, every day. A month after Walter Wallace Jr. was killed by police in front of his home, the Philadelphia Police Department quietly rolled out a new script...

STRATFORD, CT — Stratford's public safety dispatchers were honored this past week as part of the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick recognized the Stratford Public Safety Communications Center's staff by releasing an official...

EVANSTON — Designated during the second week of April, National Public Safety Telecommunications Week celebrates dispatchers throughout the U.S., to thank and honor those who dedicate their lives to public service and to create an awareness of their hard work and...

FOXBOROUGH – Built in 1960 to transmit telephone and television signals nationwide, the High Rock site surrounded by conservation land is now home to a state-of-the art emergency communication center. The large, long-vacant cement building in Foxborough was recently...

In honor of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week April 12 through 17, UT Health East Texas EMS is recognizing the pivotal role its emergency dispatchers play every day. Working from UT Health East Texas EMS headquarters in Tyler, a team of 27 dispatchers is...