Operations
Where’s That Radio?
January 27, 2011After years of delays by elected officials struggling with what they perceive as an “unfunded mandate” and a reluctance to spend money in this tough economy, you finally received approval to replace all your radios to comply with the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate. You purchase the new radios, program them with the new interoperability channels and modify your FCC license to reflect narrowband emissions. But when you complete the distribution and installation, you discover that you’re short 23 front-line radios. And you’re out of budget funds. This is one example that illustrates why inventorying your radio equipment is so important.
Read full articleCity, County Eye $400K System amid Tough Fiscal Climate
January 25, 2011Santa Fe — The city’s fire and police chiefs want to raid a reserve fund to buy mapping software they say would help get emergency vehicles to the scene faster. If their proposal manages to win approval in this time of tight budgets, they say the days of police officers and ambulance crews flipping though map books while responding to calls could be history.
Read full articleForeign Correspondence
January 24, 2011As the U.S. and Canada have designated 9-1-1 as their unique emergency number, other countries have their individual, historically grown structures of emergency numbers. A few years ago, an APCO International evaluation revealed that there are more than 170 different numbers worldwide to reach first responders. We thought it would be interesting to identify differences in countries, cultures and emergency numbers. For my first article, I have chosen to report about my home country, Austria, and provide an introduction to the European-wide “112” emergency number.
Read full articleCenter Looks for Reaccreditation
January 24, 2011Huber Heights, Ohio — On Saturday, a team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. arrived to examine all aspects of the Huber Heights Public Safety Communications Center in its effort for reaccreditation.
Read full articleHuman Error Results in No Response to Alarm
January 20, 2011Denver – When Denver 9-1-1 received an alarm notification for the home of Lisa Sommers, police were not dispatched because the public safety telecommunicator transposed the alarm’s permit numbers. Such incidents could be prevented by implementing automatic notification and adoption of the Alarm Interface Exchange Standard.
Read full article10 Things Your Agency Must Know About Social Media
January 20, 2011Social media can be one of the sharpest tools on your virtual duty belt — if you know how to use it properly. That caveat is the focus of the Social Media the Internet and Law Enforcement (SMILE) Conference, which runs through Jan. 12 in Santa Monica, Calif. Approximately 100 law enforcement professionals from five countries are learning technical and practical social media skills to improve their departments, and better commicate and engage with citizens.
Read full articleAMBER Alert Program Expands to Facebook
January 14, 2011Effective Jan. 12, Facebook users are able to sign up to receive AMBER Alert bulletins for their state which will be sent to them through the Facebook “News Feed” feature. A total of 53 new AMBER Alert Pages have been created, one for each state, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia. Facebook users will also be able to share the AMBER Alerts with their friends.
Read full articleShots Fired!
January 14, 2011“He’s still shooting inside. Shots fired! Shots fired!” — Vail, Colo., an energetic, low-crime resort town, population 4,700, hadn’t had a murder since 1979. That changed on Nov. 7, 2009. The Vail Public Safety Communications Center found itself handling an active shooter incident just six months after its employees had completed an APCO Active Shooter class. Vail dispatch is a small, proactive communications center that tries to stay on the cutting edge of training.
Read full articleAm I Ready for the Big One?
January 14, 2011In recent years, there has been a lot of talk about readiness in the comm center. We have backup phone systems, backup generators, even backup comm centers. What about backup telecommunicators? I wanted to know, “What about me?” What if I were the one working (stuck) in the comm center when something big happens? Is there anything out there to prepare me? I did some research on communications preparedness, and I’d like to share my findings with other telecommunicators.
Read full articleUnconventional Ideas
January 13, 2011With more reliance on cellular and UHF radio communications, public safety organizations find themselves dependent on a modern technology infrastructure to support their inter- and intra-agency communications, and communications with the public. However, one major hurricane or winter storm could render most of the technology useless during the stage of the event that it’s needed the most. Here are six strategies to back up your agency’s communications.
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