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6 Investigations in About 6 Years Focused on Police Dispatcher
September 6, 2011A Colorado Springs police dispatcher was at the center of six internal affairs investigations over her six-and-a-half-year career, including one quashed by a former deputy chief against the advice of others in the agency, documents show.
Read full articleGovernment Sues to Block AT&T, T-Mobile Merger
September 1, 2011The Justice Department took the unusual step Wednesday to try to block AT&T’s $39 billion purchase of T-Mobile USA, arguing that the proposed merger would lead to higher wireless prices, less innovation and fewer choices for consumers.
Read full articleEmergency Center OK’d
September 1, 2011TAMPA: Just days after Irene ravaged the East Coast, Hillsborough County administrators used the proposition of a hurricane hitting the Tampa Bay area to sell county commissioners on the need for a $31.4 million public safety complex.
Read full articleRockefeller Pushes for Better First Responder Communication
September 1, 2011National emergencies require increased federal efforts to secure communications, especially among first responders facing problems ranging from hurricanes and earthquakes to terror attacks, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said.
Read full articleHomeland Security Funds Give Sheriff’s Office a High-Tech Communications Boost
August 30, 2011PITTSFIELD. Ma. — As a result of the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office’s access to funding for homeland security, mountaintop communications systems have been upgraded to cope with emergencies such as Tropical Storm Irene this past weekend.
Read full articleNew 9-1-1 Plan Allows People to Send Text, Picture and Videos
August 29, 2011Communications officials are working to enable people to use cell phones to summon emergency help, but that could produce a learning curve for users and 9-1-1 dispatchers, they caution. The Federal Communications Commission this month announced preliminary plans to allow people to send text, picture and video messages to dispatchers.
Read full articleFCC Keeps Close Watch on Outages
August 29, 2011Hurricane Irene has caused some disruption so far to local communications systems, and the FCC is keeping a close eye on phone and TV service as the storm makes its way up the East Coast. The agency’s teams in the field have recorded some outages to landline service, affecting perhaps 12,000 customers, mostly in North Carolina.
Read full articleEquipment Problem Causes Fire in County Dispatch Center
August 29, 2011ANDERSON, S.C. — A piece of overheated equipment caused a small fire Friday night at Anderson County’s 9-1-1 dispatch center. The fire affected at least one computer in the dispatch center on South Towers Street in Anderson, but authorities said it did not cause an interruption in 9-1-1 service.
Read full articleChief Tried to Outsource Dispatching before Massive Police Layoff
August 25, 2011MOUNT STERLING, Ohio — Chief Mike McCoy says he developed plans to cut his budget and save his force, but nobody listened. After the Village Council voted Monday to lay off every dispatcher and officer except McCoy because there was no money left to pay them, several officials said the chief had long been told to get his budget under control and hadn’t.
Read full articlePhone Outage Causes 9-1-1 Problems
August 25, 2011A telephone service outage caused problems for some area 911 systems Wednesday night. Portland Police Chief Randy Wright issued a statement about 10 p.m. saying only about 1 in 10 calls were able to get through on the city’s 911 lines.
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