Posts From Public Safety Communications
FCC Accuracy Requirements for Wireless Carriers
July 29, 2011In its Second Report and Order dated Sept. 23, 2010, the FCC adopted new rules governing the accuracy of location information provided by wireless carriers to PSAPs.[1] There’s much good news in this order. One of the best aspects will require accuracy measurements from the county or PSAP geographic level. Prior to this, carriers had said they wanted to average accuracy levels over larger regional areas. In these cases, large cities where carriers could supply high-accuracy levels would skew the results for rural counties. Not all the news is good, however.
Read full articleAPCO International Announces P33 Training Program Certifications
July 28, 2011DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Four public safety agencies have met or exceeded the minimum training standards for the APCO International Project 33 Training Program Certification-2010 and will be awarded at APCO’s 77th Annual Conference, August 7th-10th in Philadelphia, Pa.
Read full articleLESA’s Allen Fenner: The Personal Side
July 28, 2011In its monthly director’s report, LESA (Law Enforcement Support Agency) in Tacoma, Wash., recently profiled Allen Fenner, a LARIAT tactical analysis coordinator (TAC), who is a former police officer of 29 years. In his current position, he monitors incoming 9-1-1 calls and quickly coordinates background data on the response area, information given by calltakers, suspect identifications, aliases and their associations.
Read full articleInsidious Interference
July 28, 2011Dear Radiohead: Recently, my agency had interference on our radio system. For a few days, it was so bad we couldn’t hear our patrol units, but we could hear units from a department 200 miles away. Then the problem just disappeared. What gives?
Read full articleIndustry Experts Join PSA Leadership for a Discussion on Wireless Spectrum and Public Safety
July 25, 2011WASHINGTON, D.C. — On July 28, just two months in advance of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Public Safety Alliance will hold a discussion on wireless spectrim and public safety that will shed light on the importance of building a 20 MHz nationwide, interoperable public safety broadband network immediately from technical, operational and economic perspectives.
Read full articleMore Capacity: The Role of Picocells in LTE
July 18, 2011The proliferation of wireless devices capable of sending and receiving large amounts of data is straining commercial wireless networks. Smart phones, data cards and tablets with such applications as video sharing and conferencing, social networking and gaming consume more wireless network resources than phone calls and texts. Similarly, the increased use of novel public safety applications, such as video streaming, street cameras, automatic license plate recognition and the coming proliferation of sensors and M2M (machine-to-machine) devices, will increasingly strain public safety’s wireless networks.
Read full articlePolice Dispatching Tips & Tools
July 14, 2011A 9-1-1 telecommunicator listens to the radio, calls for a wrecker, runs warrants and dispatches officers on calls for service, all while providing customer service to the multitude of everyday callers. Telecommunicators possess the innate ability to complete several tasks — such as hearing multiple conversations and obtaining additional information for officers — at the same time without missing a beat. But sometimes, callers are less than cooperative or unable to give the necessary information. For every call received, telecommunicators need to use various tools to obtain additional information for responding units.
Read full articleShelby Gloude’s Second Career: Dispatcher
July 13, 2011It’s never too late in life to change your career. In her early 40s, Shelby Gloude returned to her hometown to become a public safety dispatcher with the Portsmouth (Va.) Police Department. Fast forward more than 16 years, and Gloude is a supervisor who is active in and passionate about the profession.
Read full articlePublic Safety Heralds Dingell’s Introduction of H.R. 2482, Companion Bill to S. 911
July 12, 2011The Public Safety Alliance today applauded and strongly supports Congressmen John D. Dingell (D-MI 15) and Gene Green (D-TX 29) for their introduction of companion legislation to Senate bill S. 911.
Read full articleLine-of-Duty-Death Handbook Now Available
July 7, 2011A death in the line of duty is arguably one of the more stressful events for first responders, especially those in EMS whose goal is to arrive on scene with the promise of bringing aid. And because many EMS agencies don’t have set protocols and procedures in place for tasks like notifying co-workers and next of kin, and coordinating the logistics of the funeral, line-of-duty deaths are events that most EMS agencies are the least prepared to address. Tawnya Silloway decided to take action.
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