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Tanya Manus
Journal staff
When calling 911 isn’t possible, South Dakotans now have the option to text 911.The text, like a phone call, will be routed to a local 911 dispatch center. The South Dakota Department of Public Safety announced the text to 911 service on Monday. The new texting option is part of the state 9-1-1 Coordination Program.The Department of Public Safety recommends calling 911 if possible in emergency situations. Voice calls are the best and fastest way to contact 911, and locations are easier to determine from 911 calls than from text messages.“Text-to-9-1-1 should only be used in an emergency when you can’t call 9-1-1,” said Craig Price, cabinet secretary for the South Dakota Department of Public Safety. “The Text-to-9-1-1 option would be good to use if speaking out loud would put the caller in danger or if the caller is deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired.”Texting to 911 should only be used when someone can’t safely make a voice call, such as in situations involving an active shooter, domestic violence, a home invasion, and human trafficking.Additionally, texting to 911 can be used by individuals who lose the ability to speak because of a medical crisis.The South Dakota Department of Public Safety has established guidelines for texting to 911:

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• Don’t text and drive;• In your first text message, send the location and type of emergency;• Text in simple words and keep the text message short. Don’t use slang, abbreviations or emojis;• Stay on your phone and be prepared to answer questions and follow instructions from 911. Don’t delete the conversation with 911 or turn off your phone until you’ve been instructed to do so;• Don’t text photos or videos because those cannot be received by 911;• Don’t include 911 in group texts or add others to your text conversation with 911.Texting 911 with a false report is a crime, as is sending a “test” text. If you accidentally send a text to 911, send another text or call 911 to let the dispatcher know that there is no emergency.Texting to 911 is not yet fully activated in Todd County. People texting 911 in that county will receive a message stating that text service is unavailable and they will be advised to make a 911 call instead.For more information about the state’s Text to 911 program, go to text911sd.com.

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AT&T*  has added three new cell sites to enhance the Livingston County’s ’s 4G LTE coverage and help give residents and first responders faster, more reliable wireless service. The company is also claiming this action will also help customers get the most out of...

The Arlington County Police Department has quietly removed more of its radio channels from public monitoring.
Without a public announcement, ACPD started to encrypt two of its main radio channels for police communication earlier this month. A department spokesperson confirmed the move after inquiries from ARLnow, saying it’s part of a regional plan.
“As of March 1, 2021, Arlington County finalized adoption of the National Capital Region (NCR) Interoperable Encryption Plan,” said ACPD’s Ashley Savage. “In our primary radio zone, the adoption resulted in further encrypting the administrative channel, 1E, to protect the personal and confidential information of members of the public interacting with law enforcement as well [as] encrypting our last talk around channel, 1C, for tactical and operational security reasons.”
The “talk around” channel is used by officers at the scene of an incident to communicate with one another, and to relay updates to Arlington’s Emergency Communications Center. Monitoring it allowed hobbyists and news media to better understand what was happening during significant police incidents.
For the media, it also allowed more informed decisions about whether to send reporters and photographers to certain potential stories, and would sometimes help with formulating more targeted questions to ask of a police spokesperson or witnesses. Without it, reporters for broadcast stations and other outlets, including ARLnow, will be more dependent on official statements from police, which can lack key details, or accounts from witnesses, which can be hard to obtain and verify.
ACPD said that it will keep its main dispatch channel unencrypted, which will allow the public and media outlets to hear police dispatches and some initial communication between officers on scene and dispatchers. The department also highlighted the other official means by which it posts information, like a daily crime report on weekdays.
“The police department remains committed to transparency and our primary radio channel, 1A, where calls for service are dispatched, remains unencrypted,” said Savage. “The department also shares information related to criminal incidents through the Daily Crime Report, Online Crime Map, Open Data Portal and press releases. We also use Arlington Alert to provide emergency notifications in the event of a public safety threat to the community.”
ARLnow reported exclusively last summer — as a wave of protests over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd swept the country — that ACPD was considering encrypting more channels.
At the time, the local branch of the NAACP expressed concerns about police transparency. Since then, the department has implemented a body-worn camera system and participated in a county-run examination of police practices. The final police practices report made no mention of police radios or encryption.
File photo

For immediate releaseHOLBROOK — Director Steve Hooke is pleased to announce that the Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center will be adding the Abington Police Department to its list of partner agencies.The HRECC will begin dispatch services for the Abington Police Department in Fiscal Year 2022, and will also acquire the Abington Public Safety Answering Point.“We are thrilled to be adding the Abington Police Department to our list of partner agencies,” Director Hooke said. “They will join a list of agencies that already includes the Abington Fire Department. We look forward to working alongside all of the town’s first responders in service to their community going forward.”With the addition of Abington Police, the HRECC will now serve a total of nine departments across Norfolk and Plymouth counties, including Abington Fire, Holbrook Police and Fire, Rockland Police and Fire, Sharon Fire, Canton Fire and Whitman Fire. This also includes the Fire District 4 Control Point and Department of Fire Services Hazardous Materials Response.“The Abington Police Department is excited to join the HRECC. Since 911’s inception here in Abington I’ve always felt emergency call handling could be done in a more efficient manner; in a way that provides our residents with the best available service and the fastest response times,” Abington Police Deputy Chief Chris Cutter said. “With this move, we are improving service for everyone in town who may need to call 911 and we are better preparing our community to be able to handle a critical incident should one arise. The HRECC is a proven leader in regional communication and we are happy to join such a well-established and tested public safety answering point.”The Abington Police Department is the first new department to join the HRECC since the opening of its new 5,967 square-foot headquarters, which officially opened in January. The facility, located at 300 South Franklin St. behind the Holbrook Public Safety complex, was built with the goal of expanding the HRECC’s staff and available resources.The HRECC has recently released a video highlighting their new headquarters, which can be found here.The video was produced by Holbrook Community Access and Media.
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GRATIOT COUNTY, Mich. (WJRT) – Gratiot County Central Dispatch is using a new tool to help locate 911 callers faster and easier.The county is adopting the what3words system to find people who may not know their exact location when the call 911 for help. The international system has divided all of the Earth’s surface into 10-foot squares and assigned each a combination of three words for an address.For example, “resurgent.aimless.wishful” is the entrance to Alma City Hall and the Department of Public Safety.The free app on Apple and Android devices does not require cellular data to operate. It uses GPS signals to pinpoint location, including in remote areas and lakes that may not have adequate cellular service, to determine the three-word address. Callers can text or call 911 to provide the three words, which emergency dispatchers can use to determine the location and direct emergency responders. Dispatchers can send a link to callers who don’t have the app installed on their cell phone, which will provide three words for their location.The what3words system was developed in the United Kingdom and South Africa in 2019 and expanded to Australia and Canada last year. It has helped emergency crews find thousands of people after crashes in rural areas, flood victims, kidnapping victims and bicyclists or hikers stranded in remote areas.“Being able to use what3words is going to make a huge difference, especially in life-threatening situations,” said Dan Morden, director of Gratiot County Central Disptach. “It means we can save precious time responding to emergencies and help callers much more easily.” Outside of emergency applications, the public can use what3words to find meeting locations with friends at crowded parks, beaches and shopping malls. Runners, hikers and hotels also are using the system to navigate without writing complicated directions.Copyright 2021 WJRT. All rights reserved.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A text to 911 is handled a lot like a 911 emergency call, said Tony Mangan of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.

Mangan, the communications director for the DPS, said “9-1-1 texts will route based upon geographic location and pre-established boundaries, similar to how voice calls to 9-1-1 are routed.”

“All 911 centers throughout the state have the software or equipment to handle 911 texts,” Mangan said. “Text web portals have been made available for those Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) who were not part of the statewide hosted call handling equipment that provides text functionality.”

Mangan said, “The state pays for 100% of the dispatch center expenses for text to 911 services.”

The state launched the text to 911 service today. South Dakota will join several other states, including Minnesota and North Dakota, with text to 911 service.

“In other states, trends have been showing that 1% or less of all 911 calls received are texts,” Mangan said.

In South Dakota there were 269,253 wireless 911 calls delivered to PSAPs in 2019, according to the National 911 Progress Report from 2019 data.

In Iowa, there were 929,331 wireless 911 calls delivered to PSAPS. That’s compared to 3,337 texts to 911 in 2019.

In Minnesota, there were 2,441,933 wireless 911 calls delivered to PSAPS. That’s compared to 3,622 texts to 911.

According to the federal 911 study, there were 145,102,640 wireless 911 calls in 38 states. There were 581,151 texts to 911.

Although the texts to 911 calls are small percentage of all 911 calls including wireless and landline, the number is growing, according to the 2019 911 report.

In 2018, 33 states reported 188,646 text to 911 messages, according to the report. The number of 911 texts was 102,163 in 2016, 34,700 in 2015 and 1,121 in 2014, according to governmenttechnology.com.

The number of texts and total calls from 2014 to 2016 and in 2018 depends on the number of states reporting the data. For example, the total number of cellular calls based on 34 reporting states was 144,906,328 in 2015. And 25 states reported text to 911 data with a total of 34,700, according to the 2016 National 911 Progress report.

DPS officials said calling 911 with the cell phone is overall better than texting 911 but the new option is another tool for the public. The S.D. DPS said text to 911 can be helpful in a situation where calling may be too dangerous. Also, for the deaf and hard of hearing the text to 911 option could be valuable, the DPS said.

Mangan said there are also instances when a text to 911 can reach a PSAP when a 911 call can’t.

For example, during a storm cell phone pathways could be jammed but often, a text can get transmitted, according to governmenttechnology.com.

Emergency personnel have been able to locate a caller’s location through the cell phone. Mangan said a similar locate could be done through a text to 911.

“As long as the wireless carrier provides the location information to be delivered with the text, it is generally possible to locate the caller,” he said. “The challenge for exact location would be if the person texting was in a multi-floor, multi-room building.  Callers are advised to provide location information in the event it does not automatically appear.”

Lewis County now has an Office of Emergency Management/E-911 director. James Gum accepted the position, and Keith Talbert has accepted the position of assistant director. The position of director had been vacant since the passing of William Rowan in 2020. Rowan had been director since 1984.Gum was hired in 1992 as a telecommunicator and recalled one of his first experiences: moving into the building that houses emergency management and Lewis County dispatch.“I hauled the initial load of equipment in here,” he said, adding he became a full time telecommunicator in 1993, and was appointed to Operations of the E-911 Center and the Office of Emergency Management in 2006. He, like Rowan, is also a volunteer firefighter, serving with the Weston Volunteer Fire Department since January 1991.

Talbert has also been involved with public service most of his life. His father was a West Virginia state trooper, which brought early exposure to the “emergency services” lifestyle to Talbert at a young age. As an adult, he has committed over 15 years of service through all divisions of emergency services: police, fire, EMS, and 911 dispatcher.“I became a volunteer firefighter in 2006 and currently hold the rank of deputy chief of the Weston Volunteer Fire Department. I have also served the City of Weston as a paid fireman since 2011. I have been a reserve deputy for the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office since 2009, worked as a dispatcher for over a year (’06-’07), and I’m involved in many extracurricular professional and volunteer organizations, including holding the position of president of the Lewis County Firefighters Association. I feel being “well-rounded” puts me at an advantage of achieving success,” Talbert said.Talbert and Gum are aware that updates and improvements need to be made to provide better services to the community, but also to all first responders. Talbert believes that approaching this can be done through communication, change, and involvement.“I believe communication is key to successful relationships both personally and professionally. Having adequate communication builds trust between first responders, my staff, and the community. It is imperative to maintaining a successful and professional operation,” Talbert said, acknowledging that change can be hard sometimes, and that has not happened at the E-911 Center in a long time.“As I take the position of Assistant Director, it’s my duty to provide the best service to our residents. In doing so, some of the major changes that are on the list include finalizing the purchase of a new CAD system and other computerized equipment, updating Standard Operating Procedures for better customer service, and providing additional forms of emergency alert notification systems- just to name a few,” he said, adding that professional use of Social Media is also large platform for getting information out to mass amounts of people.Gum agrees, saying that his goal is to work with all agencies to make the best decisions for them and the community they serve.

“I’ll answer questions, and address complaints, and fix the issues,” Gum said.Involvement is important, and both understand the need for outreach, as they are well aware that first responders are called upon in the worst circumstances.“Plain and simple, I want the community to know what OEM stands for. Being more involved in community outreach events, fire prevention in schools, and establishing our own outreach programs are just a few ways we can accomplish this task,” Talbert said.Technology is something that will also be addressed, and Gum and Talbert are in agreement.“It is time to do some upgrades,” Gum said. Lewis Commissioners are also supportive of this.Commissioner Agnes Queen said that they also recognize the need for equipment upgrades, and will work with Gum and Talbert to make that a reality.The application process was as anonymous as possible, with five people conducting interviews. Those five were made up of Queen, Lewis Commission President Rod Wyman, Lewis Commissioner Bobby Stewart, III, a Gilmer County commissioner, and a Randolph County commissioner.Each candidate answered 10 questions, which were the same across the board, and each answer was voted on on a scale of one to 10. Queen said a CPA tabulated the scores, with the highest scores going to Gum and Talbert, in that order.“We wanted to make sure we made it fair,” Queen said, adding that candidates did not see each other prior to or after interviewing.

Tetra |
2021-03-20

The company announced that it’s repeaters are now officially approved for use on the BOS (public safey) radio network network in Austria. 

From now on, the complete portfolio of SEE telecom, existing of both Off-air and Optical repeaters is offered to enhance radio coverage inside all types of confined infrastructures in Austria. The portfolio includes repeaters with a variety of redundancy, alarm and remote maintenance options, various performance classes, dimensions, and design.
The Austrian public safety sector is strictly regulated by TETRON Sicherheitsnetz Errichtungs- und Betriebs GesmbH, which is responsible for the creation of the digital authoritative radio network BOS-Austria.
For safety reasons, only devices certified by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and TETRON are allowed to be installed in Austria.

MONTPELIER — Preliminary results from an ongoing study commissioned by the Central Vermont Public Safety Authority suggest the simulcast system proposed by an established network of area fire departments would significantly improve emergency communications throughout the region.Though computer modeled “coverage maps” shared with members of the CVPSA Board during its virtual meeting Thursday night were described as “very preliminary,” they should be encouraging — if not surprising — to the fire departments that comprise the Capital Fire Mutual Aid System.On a night that ended with Fred Cummings offering a candid critique of the board, Montpelier’s departing dispatch supervisor suggested the “coverage maps” presented for their review told only half of what has the makings of a very good story.

According to Cummings, the rest of the story can be found in the current coverage maps — the ones that highlight the shortcomings of aging communications infrastructure badly in need of an upgrade.“When you put them (the maps) side by side, you’re going to see the dramatic differences,” he predicted.The maps reflect the mutual aid system’s proposal to add three new transmitters — one on Beacon Hill in Chelsea, another on Lincoln Peak in Warren and a third on Hill Street in Montpelier — while upgrading several others.The plan is designed to improve emergency communications across the region and address several problem areas.Cummings, who tendered his two-week notice Tuesday and has accepted a similar job at a larger dispatch center in Minnesota, said the preliminary maps prepared by Televate LLC appear to back those plans.“It’s solving probably 98% of the coverage areas that have been identified (as problems),” he said, suggesting the draft maps reflect a “huge improvement” over current conditions.Among other things, Cummings said, plans for the Beacon Hill transmitter would resolve long-standing problems in Washington and portions of Williamstown and potential to offer dispatch services to the Chelsea Volunteer Fire Department and the First Branch Ambulance Service.Joe Aldsworth, deputy fire chief in Barre, said the maps were cause for cautious optimism.“It’s encouraging,” he said, suggesting a side-by-side town-by-town comparison would be useful for the mutual aid system.Members of the mutual aid system tabled action Wednesday on a proposal they withdraw from their dues-free membership in the public safety authority created by votes in Barre and Montpelier in 2014 and recently commissioned the study to evaluate the region’s emergency communications infrastructure.Francis “Paco” Aumand, the authority’s former executive director, who was retained on a consulting basis earlier this year to manage the Televate contract, said the early returns didn’t raise any red flags with respect to the upgrades contemplated by the mutual aid system.“It does appear there is a strong radio mobile coverage within the area they have identified as the service area,” he said, noting the maps are subject to revision, a final report isn’t due until June 2 and Televate isn’t yet prepared to make any recommendations.Notwithstanding those caveats, Aumand said he interpreted the preliminary maps the same way Cummings and Aldsworth did.“That’s pretty good coverage,” he said.Though the maps seem to suggest otherwise, Aumand stressed they should not be read to mean a key concern raised by fire departments in Barre and Montpelier would be resolved by the proposed upgrades.

“This does not mean there is in-building radio coverage,” he said, suggesting that was an unresolved issue.According to Aumand, Televate has met with some stakeholders — Aldsworth and Todd Goad, of Burlington Communications, among them — and is scheduling meetings with others, including Cummings, as part a study that will include an online stakeholder survey that will be rolled out in coming weeks.Aumand’s report highlighted a meeting during which the board approved $2,550 in training funds for three Montpelier dispatchers to take the “Women in Leadership” training offered by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.Montpelier Police Chief Brian Peete said the training request was part of a succession planning process aimed at increasing diversity in leadership and was spurred, in part, by Cummings’ announcement he will be leaving.As the meeting was coming to a close, board member Dona Bate said she hoped to replace Chairman Kim Cheney during next month’s organizational meeting, and Cheney said he isn’t ready to step aside.As Cheney mused about the board’s past struggles and suggested it might be on the verge of a “breakthrough,” Cummings offered some “parting words of wisdom,” as well as a blunt critique.“You have to pick one thing, and you have to do it well in order to get legitimacy and trust from the people you want to serve,” he said, adding: “The biggest thing that you lack right now … based on comments that I’ve heard … is there’s no trust in your board.”Cummings said “trust” and “legitimacy” need to be earned, partnerships need to be nurtured and ideas — even good ideas — take time. The board, he said, needs to “focus” and finish, stop swinging at every pitch, and emulate — not alienate — potential partners like the Capital Fire Mutual Aid System.“That’s an organization that you should strive to be like,” he said. “They’ve made a radio system work against all the odds … and they’re ready to move forward with something that will blow the doors off what they have now.”Cummings said he is confident Televate will validate that prediction when it issues its report, crediting the board for hiring the firm to conduct the analysis.“The first great thing you did is agree to do this study,” he said, predicting it will make the case for a simulcast system and underscore the need for redundancy in emergency communications.Also, Cummings said it will likely recommend a regional emergency communications center — an idea an earlier version of the board had a hard time selling to officials in Barre and Montpelier.Cummings acknowledged that might never change, but, he said, it definitely won’t if the authority can’t string together some successes and prove its worth.The good news?Cummings said he thinks it can.“I believe enough in this to believe that it can work,” he said.david.delcore @timesargus.com