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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...

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...

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...

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.

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...

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...

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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.

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Congress should reauthorize the FirstNet Authority now.

Support the reauthorization of the FirstNet Authority to preserve public safety’s network

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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.


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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.


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