Top Comm Center Headlines
News & Articles
Telecommunicators at Portland’s 9-1-1 center celebrated (OR)
Unlike in other years, this year’s Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications annual 911 Awards were not celebrated with pageantry, as at this celebration in 2019 – but these everyday heroes are worth celebrating, even if remotely. By David F. Ashton Although...
4 leaving 911 board are recognized (IL)
Four members of the Effingham County 911 were recognized this week for their serviced. For two, their terms are expiring and two others stepped down. Board Chairman Julie Stephens, who started on the board in 2016, and Board Treasurer Wayne Rubach, who also started in...
County considers upgrading radio dispatch equipment
Some local law enforcement officers are calling for an upgrade to the county’s aging radio dispatch equipment. During a Wednesday board of commissioners meeting, members of the Curry County Sheriff’s office made their case for upgrading the dispatch system, which...
Tennessee board reports Nashville bombing impact on 911, future plans
In the wake of the Nashville bombing that create extended outages for 66 public-safety answering points (PSAPs) AT&T has committed to improving its network resiliency, communications with 911 centers, and its backup-power capabilities, according to a report to the...
House OKs Ackerman legislation that would require 911 system to have over-the-phone CPR operators on staff (RI)
STATE HOUSE — The House of Representatives today approved legislation introduced by Rep. Mia Ackerman (D-Dist. 45, Cumberland, Lincoln) that would improve over-the-phone CPR instructions by requiring the 911 system to certify and staff individuals trained in...
Shrewsbury asks to share Worcester’s public safety radio frequencies (MA)
Photo by/Laura Hayes A radio site will be built at the fire station on Centech Boulevard as part of the project. By Laura Hayes, Contributing Writer SHREWSBURY — Shrewsbury is interested in using Worcester’s public safety radio frequency. Trying to make that possible,...
Raleigh-Wake 911 Answers Nearly 1,900 Calls A Month From Durham As The City Faces A Shortage Of Operators (NC)
DURHAM, NC (WNCN) – In some shifts, the Durham 911 call center has only two operators taking 911 calls, according to a Durham 911 dispatcher. In a city where an average of two shooting incidents a day, a 911 operator told CBS 17 in an interview on Wednesday that it...
Ventura County first responders now able to receive 9-1-1 text messages (CA)
VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - First responder agencies throughout Ventura County are now able to receive 911 text messages in the event of an emergency. The purpose of this function is to allow hearing and speech-impaired members of the community, as well as those in a...
ECC projects the need for dozens more dispatchers by 2023 (TN)
Nashville, TN - The Davidson County Emergency Communications Center is projecting a need for dozen of more dispatchers in the coming years to keep their call answer record as perfect as it has been during the pandemic. When your safety is on the line, Amber Doss is on...
Prince William County Improves 911 Response Time (VA)
Provided by Prince William County The Prince William County Department of Public Safety Communications today announced the implementation of the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP), an alarm response program improving 911 response time, minimizing duplicate data...
It’s time to upgrade 9-1-1, the most critical of critical infrastructure
Law enforcement, fire, EMS, and 9-1-1 professionals handle over 240 million emergency 9-1-1 calls per year. Our 9-1-1 system is the most critical of critical infrastructure — relied upon nationwide every day to obtain assistance in a variety of life-or-death...
Holbrook Police Department, Holbrook Regional Emergency Communications Center Rescues Family Trapped by Coyote in Holbrook Town Forest (MA)
At approximately 11:40 a.m., the Holbrook Department of Public Works received a call from a female party who was walking with her two children in the Holbrook Town Forest when she was trapped on a walking trail about a mile out by a large coyote. The Holbrook Regional...
Some 911 services down in South Carolina Lowcountry (SC)
Fiber optic cable cut causing outages in Berkeley, Allendale, Colleton and Calhoun counties COLUMBIA, S.C. — Residents in five Lowcountry counties of South Carolina have been experiencing service outages due to a cut in an AT&T fiber optic line. While the company...
Threats to 911 dispatcher in Michigan brings new charges for ‘Yankee Patriot’ (MI)
Jonathan J. Munafo is charged in the Jan. 6 Washington, D. C. insurrection; he’s now accused of threatening a 911 dispatcher in Calhoun County a day earlier. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A New York man accused of punching an officer during the January attack on the U.S....
FBI: Ransomware Attacks Threaten First Responder Networks
PRESS RELEASE The following information is being provided by the FBI, with no guarantees or warranties, for potential use at the sole discretion of recipients in order to protect against cyber threats. This data is provided to help cyber security professionals and...
City of New Orleans and State of Iowa Join Growing Trend to Improve Emergency Communications by Deploying Rave Alert
FRAMINGHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rave Mobile Safety (Rave), the critical communication and collaboration platform customers count on when it matters most, announced that the City of New Orleans and the State of Iowa have adopted Rave Alert to replace legacy emergency mass notification systems, and are among 260 new deployments in the first months of 2021.
Rave Enhances Mass Notifications for City of New Orleans and State of Iowa
New Orleans will use the Rave platform to power its “NOLA Ready” alerting system. This deployment will allow residents to simultaneously sign up for NOLA Ready alerts, subscribe to alerts from the Governor’s Office, Louisiana Department of Health and other State agencies and create a Smart911 Safety Profile. These profiles provide 9-1-1 operators and first responders with instant critical information used to inform emergency response.
“In New Orleans, we’ve faced many challenges over the last few years,” said Collin Arnold, Director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (NOHSEP). “With each storm, every special event and over the course of the pandemic, we’ve seen the importance of providing safety information directly to residents as soon as possible. Upgrading and enhancing NOLA Ready with Rave Alert will give our responders ease of use and give our residents the information they need when it matters most.”
In Iowa, officials will use Rave Alert to communicate with residents about extreme weather, civil unrest, public health and safety concerns, bulletins for dangerous situations and safety notifications for county fairs or festivals. Iowa will also use the Rave platform for communication between state and county offices. Rave Alert replaces the current system and will allow for customization, such as multilingual translations or population segmentation.
“Between the pandemic, extreme weather and local events, it became clear we needed a streamlined and customizable way to share updates with residents across the State of Iowa at a moment’s notice,” said Paul Trombino, Director of the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “Our statewide deployment of Rave Alert allows State and county officials to quickly notify the community and confidently deliver the right message to the right people when it matters most.”
In both New Orleans and Iowa, subscribers can set notification preferences for where they receive alerts (SMS text, push notification, email or voice message) and for the type of alert, ranging from emergency alerts, COVID-19 updates and special event and traffic updates.
Rave Alert fosters greater interactivity between officials and alert recipients, improving both disaster preparedness and emergency response. It is easy to deploy, customizable and includes features like multilingual translations, polling, geo-targeted alerts and two-way messaging. From everyday usage to a catastrophic event, state and local agencies can get urgent updates to their communities quickly when seconds count. The solution is FedRAMP authorized, providing further evidence of Rave’s public safety-grade infrastructure and adherence to stringent security standards, including a commitment to 99.999% availability.
These deployments of the Rave platform are the latest examples of Rave’s growing collaborative safety ecosystem. The company further expanded that ecosystem in the past quarter through new partnerships and support of statewide safety legislation alike.
Rave Supports Compliance to Virginia’s Marcus Alert Act
Rave also worked with communities across the Commonwealth of Virginia to support their compliance with Virginia’s Marcus Alert System, which established a statewide mental health awareness response and community understanding services.
The Marcus Alert legislation requires every locality in Virginia to establish a voluntary database available to the 9-1-1 alert system and the Marcus alert system to provide mental health information and emergency contact information for response to an emergency or crisis by July 1, 2021. Smart911, Rave’s national service that allows individuals to provide 9-1-1 call takers and first responders with critical information through a Safety and Vulnerable Needs Profile, addresses the legislation’s requirement.
“From ensuring every resident in a state can receive urgent and targeted critical communications, to improving the quality of data local agencies rely on for greater situational awareness and better response, our clients are leveraging our technology to create truly collaborative safety ecosystems,” said Todd Piett, Rave CEO. “We are excited to play a role in improving safety by working closely with those tasked with protecting our communities on their most pressing safety and critical communication challenges.”
Rave Establishes First-in-the-Nation Partnership for Fully Validated 9-1-1 Location Data
To improve the quality of data public safety agencies rely on to accurately target critical mass notification recipients, Rave has also partnered with GeoComm, a leading provider of Public Safety Location Intelligence®. This partnership will bring to market a first-in-the-nation seamless integration of authoritative and fully validated 9-1-1 location data into Rave Alert. Rave and GeoComm expect general availability of their integrated solution this summer.
Thousands of communities and organizations in the U.S. and abroad count on Rave’s solutions to protect their populations and coordinate safety responses. To learn more about Rave Mobile Safety, visit www.ravemobilesafety.com.
About Rave Mobile Safety
Rave Mobile Safety is the leading provider of critical communication and collaboration technology used to save lives, manage crisis incidents and increase resiliency. From major disasters and crisis events to everyday emergencies and operational incidents, the Rave platform enables critical data sharing, mass notification and emergency response coordination. Over 8,000 first responder, emergency management, 9-1-1, and federal, state and local agencies—as well as corporations, healthcare organizations, universities and schools—all rely on Rave to prepare better, respond faster, recover quicker and mitigate anticipated critical incidents. Founded in 2004, Rave’s award-winning software solutions are backed by leading growth equity firm TCV. Let Rave enable you to do all you can todayTM to keep everyone safe. For more information, visit https://www.ravemobilesafety.com, read our company blog, and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
Durham community concerned about safety as 911 operator shortage continues (NC)
DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) – Delbert Jarmon called 911 on Sunday afternoon around 3:30 p.m. after he saw a man shooting at a vehicle driving through the intersection of Liberty Street and Alston Avenue in east Durham. “You know the gunfire sounded kind of like firecrackers,...
2 Gives Back: Metro 911 Dispatchers (TN)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – They are often the first line of help and many times the unsung heroes of disasters. 911 dispatchers handle all kinds of emergencies, including a March weekend of fatal flooding. To give back and say thank you to the Metro Emergency...
Burns Lake councillor expresses displeasure with BC Ambulance dispatch (Canada)
A Burns Lake councillor had a first-hand experience with the BC Ambulance dispatch, giving him a glimpse in to the problems faced by the community. Councillor Charlie Rensby who was driving late at night on May 5, was stopped by a man near Subway seeking help for his...
Firefighters share skills with dispatchers (CO)
Dressed in full firefighting gear, dispatchers from the Grand Junction Regional Dispatch Center dragged heavy fire hoses through 80-degree heat to get a taste of the firefighting experience and help the Fire Department’s newest recruits learn how to communicate with...
Reauthorization SurveyMORE>
PSBTA Releases Survey on First Responder Support for FirstNet Reauthorization
New Survey: First Responders Overwhelmingly Support Reauthorization of FirstNet
A new bipartisan national survey commissioned by the Public Safety Broadband Technology Association finds near- unanimous support among first responders for reauthorizing the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority)– the agency overseeing America’s dedicated public safety broadband network.
PETITIONSMORE>
Congress should reauthorize the FirstNet Authority now.
Support the reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority to preserve public safety’s network
PSBTA UpdatesMORE>
Podcast
FirstNet and the 4.9 GHz Spectrum
This episode dives into the critical evolution of public safety communications, focusing on the recent FCC decision to establish a nationwide Band Manager framework for the 4.9 GHz spectrum, and discuss the evolution and deployment of the FirstNet System. Host Chris Tubbs interviews Chief Jeff Johnson, a leader in public safety technology and the development of FirstNet. Together, they explore the history, governance, and transformative potential of FirstNet and the 4.9 GHz spectrum in enhancing public safety operations with emerging technologies like AI, 5G, and augmented reality. The discussion emphasizes the importance of protecting and optimizing public safety spectrum, the lessons learned from past advocacy efforts, and a call to action for public safety leaders to remain engaged in ensuring the spectrum’s effective use and governance.
LISTEN TO PODCAST
Public Sector GrantsMORE>
Webinar
Accessing Federal Resources When an Emergency or Major Disaster Strikes
In light of the major disasters that our nation has recently experienced, PS Grants is offering this FREE webinar to review Disaster Assistance Programs and how to access them. Learn what federal funds and resources are available through Disaster Assistance, understand the process of requesting assistance, know what to expect before, during, and after, and find out who to contact for help.
REGISTER
Subscribe to Comm Center News
Get the latest News, Articles, and Insights from AllThingsECC.com weekly in our newsletter.
Stay Up to Date With The Latest News & Updates
Share Your Story
Join our community to share your experience and connect and collaborate with colleagues.
Join Our Newsletter
Get the latest News, Articles, and Insights from AllThingsECC.com weekly in our newsletter.
Follow Us
Stay connected with the latestEmergency Communications News, Articles & Information.



