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PITTSBURG, Kan. — The city of Pittsburg and Crawford County have partnered to purchase a new emergency call-handling and management system that will allow residents to text urgent alerts to 911, public safety officials announced earlier this week.“The new system will allow dispatchers to text with people and help us better locate mobile phone calls,” said Jay Byers, deputy city manager, in a statement. “More importantly, it’s the platform for future technologies that will be coming down the road, like being able to send pictures and video from your mobile phone directly to 911 and other emerging public safety advances.”The city and county have been working for the past two years to replace old telephone systems with an internet-based 911 system. The new system provides everything that emergency dispatchers need to manage calls from any device in any format. Dispatchers at the Pittsburg Police Department and Crawford County Sheriff’s Office will be able to answer text-to-911 calls like any other call from their desktops. They also will be able to pinpoint landline and mobile calls.

Officials say the new system also will allow the city and county to expand their partnership to serve the region by allowing records and call information to be shared in real time.“This is another example of a partnership between the city and the county that focuses on public safety,” Crawford County Sheriff Danny Smith said in a statement. “We wanted a system with more redundancy in the event of a failure on either the city’s end or our own. Should one system go down, the city and county call takers could work at either dispatch center with little interruption of service. This technology enhances our efforts to ensure a safety net is in place should the unthinkable happen.”The equipment was purchased using state funds earmarked for public safety.

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KEYSER, W.Va. — The Keyser City Council on Wednesday night unanimously approved the merger of the city’s emergency dispatch services with the county’s resources. City administrator Jeff Broadwater presented the memorandum of understanding with Mineral County Emergency Services during the board’s business meeting. During the Mineral County Commission meeting Tuesday, President Richard “Doc” Lechliter signed off on it from the county’s end.The subject of the merger, Broadwater said, is something that’s been in discussion sporadically for a decade. It will take effect July 1.
“It’s kind of come to a point where I think it’s in the best interest of the city to do it,” Broadwater said. In developing the MOU, Broadwater said he met individually with the city’s three dispatchers and all three were offered the chance to interview with the county 911 center. One individual did so and will be hired, Broadwater said, and the other two employees have opted to take a severance package and will remain employed through July 1.Through the agreement, Broadwater said, “basically we’re going to relinquish all control of the 911 communications.””The sheriff’s department and all emergency dispatch will be handled in the 911 centers as opposed to calling the city office … where citizens do now,” Broadwater said. “They’ll call 911 like the rest of the county.”The merger will cost the city a one-time fee of $70,000, he said. “What’s necessitating this, if you look back through our financials, the last three years we’ve (been) averaging about a $50,000 loss in the general fund for three years,” Broadwater said. “It’s a pretty staggering number. (City finance manager Bonnie Hannas) and I went through this last week, we’ve lost 53 employees in the last three years. … It’s like we’ve become a training ground.”They expect to save $150,000 through merging with county emergency services, Broadwater said.He said the agreement represents “a step in the right direction” for the city.

“It’s to the point where something needs done, and this is the logical next step,” Broadwater said. “It’s never an easy decision when we talk about the loss of jobs, but to be, to be quite frank about it, we’ve lost a lot more than that in jobs.”Mayor Damon Tillman noted that Keyser residents have already been paying for the 911 center, even though they did not use it.”It makes sense for us to do this,” Tillman said. “It’s better for the community, better for the officers.”Tillman agreed that this was the right time for the merger to take place.”It’s time now. The citizens have paid this fee for all these years, and we haven’t really used (the county system), the citizens of Keyser, but now we’re going to, and it’s going to be a good thing,” Tillman said.County emergency services director Luke McKenzie noted that the county 911 service has already been responsible for dispatching fire and EMS services within the city. The move, he noted, would only affect police services and would also be financially beneficial for the employee who chose to interview with the county.”We’re happy to do it. I think bringing everyone together on one group is going to be better for the entire county as well,” McKenzie said.County sheriff Forrest “Buddy” Ellifritz voiced his support as well.”It’s the right choice at the right time,” Ellifritz said.The council meets next on April 14.

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This photo of one of Fond du Lac County’s multiple dispatch stations appears in the Communications and Emergency Management department’s 2018 annual report. 

submitted photo

Issue:The Fond du Lac County Board unanimously approved two resolutions last week Tuesday that furthers the process of Ripon transferring dispatch service to the county, which could save the city about $4 million over the next 10 years.The Ripon Common Council went into closed session Monday night to discuss severance agreements for Ripon’s dispatchers.Background:Debates about whether to consolidate dispatch centers with Fond du Lac County took up much of the Ripon Common Council’s time in the months leading up to January.In fact, the Common Council voted on the dispatch change twice. The first time, the Common Council voted 5-3 to keep the dispatch center at its Jan. 12 meeting.However, the next meeting, the Common Council voted 6-2 to consolidate dispatch centers with Fond du Lac County.“The obvious financial benefit and, just as obvious, safety benefit of switching to the county for dispatch does not outweigh the difficulties that it will be to change a scheduling system that will be difficult to change,” Ripon Mayor Ted Grant said at the Jan 25 Common Council meeting. “I agree, but it is something that can be overcome and I’m confident that it can be overcome within that eight-month window.”Since voting to consolidate dispatch centers, the Common Council last month unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding between the city and Fond du Lac County regarding the transfer of dispatch responsibilities to the county.At the Feb. 22 meeting, City Attorney Lud Wurtz explained that the memorandum of understanding acts as a framework for how the dispatch transfer would work moving forward.Status:At last week Tuesday’s Fond du Lac County Board meeting, the board approved a memorandum of understanding between the county and city as well as an intergovernmental agreement related to dispatch.For many years, Ripon resident and County Board Chairman Martin Farrell explained that Ripon has been the only municipality in the county that was providing its own dispatch services while the county was handling all the others.“Now the entire county will be using the Fond du Lac County dispatch center,” he said. “All 911 calls will go there.”Additionally, County Board Supervisor Tom Dornbrook said the transfer of dispatch services would benefit both the city and Fond du Lac County to allow emergency services to be on the same page.“Financially, Ripon was struggling [in] upgrading their center and about 70% of [Ripon’s] cell phone 911 calls were coming to Fond du Lac County anyhow,” he said. “There was some resistance, but I think the above board, good-faith negotiations from our county team convinced the city council that this was best for them too.”Farrell agreed with Dornbrook’s sentiment, and commended Fond du Lac County Communications and Emergency Management Director Bobbi Hicken for going “the extra mile to bring the correct information to the authorities in Ripon.”What’s next?Under the agreement, the county will begin the process of preparing the transfer of the functions of Ripon’s dispatch center to the county-wide dispatch center, which will be led by Hicken. The communications and emergency management director will communicate with city officials and coordinate the transfer to determine the official transfer date.The agreement states that Ripon dispatch staff who choose to apply to work for the county communications center, which will require additional staff to take on Ripon’s dispatch duties, will be guaranteed an interview.In addition, operating costs related to the dispatch center will be Fond du Lac County’s responsibility by 2022, according to the agreement. Those costs include expenses related to staffing, equipment, operations and capital purchases.As a result, $200,000 will permanently be transferred from Ripon’s tax levy base to Fond du Lac County’s tax levy base in 2022, the agreement stated. Ripon will not see additional tax reductions afterward.Another outcome from the agreement is that Ripon will have three voting members on the county’s Administrative Review Board, with one representative from the Ripon Police Department, Ripon Area Fire District and Ripon Guardian Ambulance Service.“I’m confident that this is in the best interest of the city, in this respect, after the decision was made,” Wurtz said at the Feb. 22 Common Council meeting. “… It’s a very good way to accomplish this on behalf of the citizens.”Is there an issue you want us to update?If you’re wondering about something that was in the news but doesn’t have a resolution, send your idea to:Email: news@riponpress.com.Phone: 920-748-3017Mail: 303 Watson St., PO Box 262, Ripon, WI 54971

CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The City of Chesapeake said mobile testing with major mobile carriers is complete. This means they are now fully Text to 9-1-1 operational.City officials said residents in Chesapeake that are experiencing emergencies can now send text messages to 9-1-1 if they need help.Residents are asked to call 9-1-1 if possible, but if they are not in a position to talk on the phone they can text “911” in the “To” field of their phones.Senders will then be be prompted to provide the address of their emergency when their text is received by the Emergency Communications Center and will then be able to chat with the Public Safety Telecommunicator.

The remote event was a cooperation between ETSI, EENA (European emergency number association) and NENA (9-1-1 association) – this was the first time the European event partnered with NENA’s US ICE 9 event.
“Crossing borders and oceans, the event helped to ensure efficient, interoperable emergency communications for all citizens,” said EENA technical director, and ETSI EMTEL committee chair, Cristina Lumbreras. “We believe that the testing will make a significant contribution to public safety in Europe and the USA. NG112 is already transforming emergency response, improving accessibility to emergency services and allowing interconnections between public safety answering points. However, for next-generation communications to function effectively, standardisation and interoperability are crucial.”
The event tested technologies for content-rich, Internet protocol-based emergency calling.

WOOD RIVER — Work on several 911-related projects — including the closure of the Bethalto call center when it consolidates with Wood River — was discussed at Wednesday’s Emergency Telephone System Board meeting.Chairman Joe Petrokovich, who is also the 911 manager for the Wood River Police Department, said the switch is still set for 6 a.m. April 1.
“Ninety-nine percent of operational items are in place and ready to go,” he said. “There are a couple of minor logistical items we’re working out next week.”

Plans for the consolidation began in October 2018 when it was announced that the East Alton Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP, would be closing and consolidating with Wood River. PSAPs are the 911 call centers.

“I was prepared to stay here for a couple of days. So, I came back up here and stayed and slept on a cot in the training room which wasn’t the best,” said Shonaci Rains, 911 operator and dispatcher for the Amarillo Emergency Communications Center “We didn’t know that the light had a sensor, so every time we stretched, turn over, or move, the light would come on while we were sleeping so I didn’t get much sleep.”

Both Pismo Beach and Grover Beach have agreed to move forward with a plan to consolidate their emergency dispatch services, a move that officials say could improve emergency response strategies and potentially save money for both cities in the future.

click to enlarge

File Photo By Steve E. Miller

FIRST LINE A proposed agreement between Pismo Beach and Grover Beach would consolidate the cities’ emergency dispatch services.

At a meeting on March 22, Grover Beach City Council showed enthusiastic support for a proposal to fold the city’s dispatch services into those already offered by Pismo, allowing Grover to reduce its staffing levels and repurpose its dispatch facility into much-needed police briefing space. If Arroyo Grande decides to join the partnership when its dispatch contract with the SLO County Sheriff’s Office ends, city staff said that South County would have a true regional dispatch center.

“I think taking a regional approach makes a lot of sense, given the opportunity for better coordination between the two cities and possibly three in the future,” Grover Beach City Councilmember Anna Miller said at the meeting. “Having two dispatchers available at the same time equates to better coverage and results in safer communities for us all. So I am in complete support of the consolidation proposal.”

Through the proposed contract, dispatch services for Grover and Pismo would be conducted at Pismo’s emergency communication center effective July 1, while Grover’s would be transformed into a police briefing room and emergency backup facility. Both Grover and Pismo currently employ six dispatchers each, and through the partnership, that would be reduced to nine total positions. Grover Beach would employ four dispatchers at a cost of $540,000 in fiscal year 2022, and Pismo Beach would employ five for $637,150. Although that was estimated to save Grover around $209,730 in fiscal year 2022 alone, the city plans to retain two full-time records employees in an effort to keep the records department open to the public seven days a week. With those employees on board, the consolidation will actually cost Grover Beach an extra $47,931 in fiscal year 2021-22.

“So it is not at this time a true cost savings,” Grover Beach City Manager Matt Bronson said, “but it’s a nominal amount to pay more for a higher level of services.”

Regionalized dispatch services have proven to reduce risks and improve efficiency among involved agencies, according to a Grover Beach staff report, and there’s been a push nationwide for about the last two decades to consolidate neighboring emergency dispatch centers.

Grover and Pismo have mulled over the idea of joining forces many times in the past, and when the Grover Beach Police Department experienced a staffing shortage in its communications department in August 2020, it requested part-time dispatch services from Pismo Beach. The cities saw the initial month-to-month dispatch service agreement as an opportunity to test out the long-discussed consolidation. While working together for a limited time, Grover and Pismo both found that police response times and strategies became increasingly efficient and safe.

“Calls for service don’t just stop in one city,” Bronson said, “particularly in our Five Cities county area where something could happen in one city and then it quickly spills over into another city.”

Grover Beach City Council is slated to vote on the official contract between the city and Pismo Beach on April 26. Δ

CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — If you’re in an emergency, there’s another way you can contact 911 in South Dakota. The state launched its Text to 911 service earlier this week.

The feature can be helpful if it’s too dangerous to talk or if you’re deaf, hard of hearing, or have speaking difficulties.

Greg Poppenga is a dispatcher for Lincoln County Communications.

In his 19 years of answering calls, he’s come across some cases where a texting option could’ve come in handy.

“I’ve had a couple of calls where they’re really quiet on the phone so you know that evidently there’s something going on in the situation they’re in,” Lincoln County 911 dispatcher Greg Poppenga said.

If you’re in an emergency, public safety officials say you should still call 911 if you can. If you can’t, use the texting option.

911 dispatch: ‘Call if you can. Text if you can’t.’

“The key here is it doesn’t replace calling 911. It’s just something if the situation arises where someone’s unable to communicate verbally for any reason then this is a tool that could help us provide assistance to those people,” Lincoln County Communications supervisor Todd Baldwin said.

When a text comes into Lincoln County Communications from someone’s mobile phone, a dispatcher will hear the notification and it will show up on a screen.

“We have canned messages, plus the ability to communicate free form with those people,” Baldwin said.

Text to 911 use increasing but still behind 911 calls

Lincoln County Communications Supervisor Todd Baldwin says training for the new feature was simple.

“It definitely gives us another tool to provide a more efficient service for the public. In public safety that’s our goal,” Baldwin said.

The Department of Public Safety says Text to 911 is not 100% activated in Todd County yet.

Again, officials say you should call 911 if you can, and text if you can’t.

You can find information on how to text 911 here.

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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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