Comm Center News
Emergency Services Center to get new phone system (TX)
The Emergency Services Center on County Services Drive is getting a new phone system. Members of the Putnam County Emergency Communications District unanimously approved the emergency purchase of a new Mitel phone system for the building Thursday. The purchase is...
Safeguards help prevent false wireless emergency alerts in NC, but some mistakes are inevitable (NC)
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Wireless Emergency Alerts allow public safety officials to send warnings directly to cell phones in case of a potentially life-threatening incident. Recently, though, erroneous alerts have gone out with long delays in correcting the messages. It...
Partnership helps dispatchers map AEDs in Stearns County (MN)
A partnership in Stearns County is bringing more awareness to heart health. February is American Heart Month, and now there's a new dispatch mapping tool to locate where automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are throughout the county. "I had a heart attack 15 years...
Emergency Services Center to get new phone system (TN)
The Emergency Services Center on County Services Drive is getting a new phone system. Members of the Putnam County Emergency Communications District unanimously approved the emergency purchase of a new Mitel phone system for the building Thursday. The purchase is not...
There’s a bill that would classify 911 dispatchers as first responders, and this local union is supporting it (VA)
They’re the first voice of reason you’ll hear when tragedy strikes, maintaining a calm steadiness all the while also ensuring first responders get to you in the safest and most efficient manner. They’re public safety telecommunicators or 911 dispatchers though Donald...
First Responder Friday: Landon Church, Stokes County E-911 Dispatcher
Texoma first responders recognized during 10th annual award banquet (TX)
SHERMAN, Tex. (KXII) - Thursday night, over a dozen telecommunicators were awarded for their service during the 10th Annual Texoma Regional 9-1-1 Telecommunications Banquet. The Texoma Council of Governments has recognized responders for their devoted and dedicated...
Cincinnati names new director for Emergency Communications Center (OH)
CINCINNATI (FOX19) - City Manager Patrick Duhaney announced on Thursday the city’s Emergency Communications Center has a new director, effective March 8. Bill Vedra will assume leadership responsibilities from Jayson Dunn, who had been serving as Special Project...
AI Is Coming: Will I Still Have A Job?
Advanced technology raises questions about the future of emergency communications
[Originally published in the March/April 2020 PSC magazine.]
By Suzanne Ladd, Senior Program Manager for Seminole County Fire/EMS Emergency Communications
It’s really hard to believe that it was just 51 years ago when the first 9-1-1 call was made in the United States in Haleyville, Alabama. At that time, this was innovation and just the beginning of emergency communications center (ECC) operations. Nobody conceived, beyond the world of Star Trek, how technology would play a pivotal role in our world. The introduction of advanced technology is no longer a sci-fi thriller. It’s here, living amongst us, giving us directions while we’re driving and locating us when we need someone to pick us up. The same holds true inside emergency communications centers around the nation. Technology has advanced so quickly that public safety telecommunicators with more than 25 years on the job may still remember a large PBX phone console with multiple big red 9-1-1 buttons that lit up when someone called. They may also remember handwriting incident information on cards and passing it along a strategically planned dispatch route within the center that completely relied on human intervention.
Today in 2020, emergency communications centers face overwhelming technology inclusion. Rarely will you find a dispatcher writing anything out on paper instead of typing it directly into computer-aided dispatch (CAD). The trained telecommunicator is not just concerned with taking a call and transmitting information to the field responders. They are constantly being inundated with new CAD systems, 9-1-1 phone systems and supporting interface systems like emergency police, fire and medical dispatch software, station alerting, automatic dispatch, advanced vehicle locating systems (AVL), caller locating software, CAD to CAD, advanced radio systems, traffic cams, GPS, updates, upgrades, and new processes and procedures with all of the above. It’s no wonder that it’s hard to fill the seats and keep them filled with experienced telecommunicators!
The job itself is an emotional roller coaster without the added technology. And the technology is supposed to make the job easier and more efficient — right? Smarter, faster and never calls in sick! Hmmm … well maybe not in the traditional cough-cough kind of way, but system hiccups, workstation and software failures are an everyday reality, which is an added bonus to the telecommunicator relying on it while working an incident. Many may ask, is this worth all the stress? And most importantly, will I still have a job in 10 years with advancing technology? My answer is yes, it is definitely worth it and yes, your job is safe.
Let me start by saying that a lot of today’s technology is smarter, faster and more efficient. It frees up the dispatcher and allows more focus on information gathering, while using resources that ultimately protect the field units and provide faster response to those in need. Advance vehicle locating is a great example of smarter, faster and more efficient. It uses GPS and other agency/area parameters built into CAD to select the closest most appropriate unit to an incident instead of a telecommunicator selecting the assigned area unit or fire station that may not be the closest or even available. There is no doubt that the benefits are real and save lives. But the key to all this great technology is the human factor. That same call may require human knowledge beyond an algorithm that can change who, what, where and how many units are responding.
The human factor can never be replicated. People need people. The emotional connection that makes this job so difficult and at the same time so worthwhile is something AI cannot replicate. AI may one day be able to relay, learn and regurgitate emotional words, but it will never be able to have emotions and connect to people in a way that is human — the way a telecommunicator connects to their caller who is scared or the way a telecommunicator connects to units in the field that need back up and your voice is all they have. Emergency communications is getting more advanced every day. The job is changing, growing and advancing but not going away
County board approves joining 911 servers with Colfax County (NE)
The Dodge County Board of Supervisors approved an interlocal agreement with Colfax County to join its 911 servers during its meeting Wednesday morning. Dodge County Communications Director Shelly Holzerland said Nebraska is transitioning to NextGen 911, an IP-based...
MD County Recognizes Dispatchers as First Responders (MD)
In Mineral County, 9-1-1 dispatchers are now recognized as first responders, the same as firefighters, police officers and emergency medical services workers. The recognition was bestowed upon the dispatchers by the Mineral County Commission. “They make so many...
House weighs emergency communications legislation
TODAY: HOUSE E&C TAKES ON PUBLIC SAFETY — Get ready: Energy and Commerce’s telecom subcommittee is considering eight bills this morning for a legislative hearing, all dealing one way or another with how to “strengthen communications networks to help Americans in...
Law enforcement’s move to digital radios complete (TN)
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department switched from the analog system to digital in December, while the Fayetteville Police Department and Petersburg Police Department made the move just weeks ago, said B.J. McCurry, director of the Fayetteville-Lincoln County...
Ontario County 911 gets new service (Canada)
CANANDAIGUA — “Ontario County 911, what is the location of the emergency?” Ontario County Sheriff Kevin Henderson and Steve DeChick, the county’s chief communications officer, said the answer to that question is a most important piece of the 911/public safety puzzle....
Regionalization of public safety dispatch that includes Mansfield, Foxboro and Norton preparing for launch (MA)
By later this year, emergency calls in a four-town area that includes Foxboro, Mansfield, Norton, and Easton will be heading to one central location, leading to faster and more coordinated response times from police and firefighters. Work is progressing at a steady...
St. Paul Police To Redirect Low Priority Incidents To Online Reporting (MN)
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — After the deadliest year of homicides in more than 25 years in St. Paul, police there are changing the way they respond to certain kinds of emergency calls. The Emergency Communications Center will no longer send officers to low priority...
Iowa bill would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders
CLINTON, Iowa (KWQC) - Two bills making their way through the Iowa state House and Senate would reclassify 911 dispatchers as first responders in Iowa. Federally, 911 emergency dispatchers are classified as clerical workers. "We are the first line of communication for...
Police search for driver who damaged QVEC lot with ‘donuts’ and ‘burnouts’ (CT)
KILLINGLY - State police are searching for the driver of truck who damaged sections of the Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communications Center’s recently upgraded parking lot this week. Troopers on Sunday were called to the 1249 Hartford Pike, East Killingly, home of the...
Borough Looks At Funds To Hire Three 911 Dispatchers (AK)
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will look at an ordinance at their meeting on Tuesday that would cover the cost of funding three new borough dispatch positions. The total cost according to the ordinance would be approximately $345,000 on an annual basis. In...
Santa Clara County Employee Strike Could Happen Friday (CA)
Some 12,000 9-1-1 dispatchers, social workers, health and hospital workers, nurses, park workers, janitors, clerks and roads and maintenance workers -- among others -- represented by Service Employees International Union Local 521 plan to go on strike Friday unless...
Upcoming Webinar
4.9 GHz Band: Review of the FCC Order
On October 22, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) released its Eighth Report and Order (Eighth R&O) regarding utilization of the 4940-4990 MHz (4.9 GHz) band that protects incumbent users as requested by us, the Public Safety Spectrum Alliance (PSSA). This Eighth R&O addresses a number of issues related to the use of this band by public safety. Please join us for a briefing on this order and how it impacts public safety.
This presentation will be led by Chief Jeff Johnson (ret) and Attorney Jason Karp, one of the nation’s leading experts in public safety spectrum regulations.
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