"Public Safety Communications"
An Effective Force Multiplier
May 4, 2011A fight between two teenagers breaks out in a small pocket park in downtown Redlands, Calif. A dispatcher quickly turns a surveillance camera on the incident and surveys the scene while calling an officer to respond. Those around the scene do nothing to break up the fight, while one of the combatants receives a kick to the head. The perpetrator begins to leave the scene as a responding officer arrives. Arrest made, evidence on file, case closed.
Read full articleEnter the Cameras
April 29, 2011Prospect Park in Redlands, Calif., is a charming and beautiful wooded area that hosts the yearly Redlands Theatre Festival. But it wasn’t always a desirable place for an afternoon stroll or a place to spend Sundays with your family. For too long, the park was a prime location for drug-related crimes, but that was before “the cameras.”
Read full articleIn the Spotlight: Art McDole & Preston Thomson
April 14, 2011PSC caught up with Art McDole and Preston Thomson, longtime friends and APCO members, in the Exhibit Hall at the 2009 Annual Conference in Las Vegas.
Read full articleIt’s Time
April 7, 2011A countdown clock on the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau website is ticking away the days, hours and minutes left to comply with a federal mandate designed to ensure more efficient use of the radio spectrum used by public safety organizations. The mandate calls for narrowbanding, meaning existing licensees operating on a 25 kHz channel (wideband) operating at VHF (150–174 MHz) and UHF (421–512 MHz) using Part 90 frequencies must reduce their emissions to 12.5 kHz. All Industrial/Business and Public Safety Radio Pool licensees must comply by Jan. 1, 2013.
Read full articleWhere’s the Money?
March 31, 2011Much of what Congress, the FCC and other federal agencies attempt to do in the realm of public safety telecommunications policy is to promote efficiency and enhanced capabilities, such as interoperability, broadband radio communications and NG9-1-1. In the private sector, these goals would be pursued in the interest of profits, potentially opening the door to capital investments to turn the goals into reality. The government sector obviously lacks a profit motive and must appropriate funds purely on the basis of improving the public good. That simple reality sometimes gets lost when telecommunications policy is being made.
Read full articleThe Trouble with Spoofing
March 17, 2011Editor’s note: The following article outlines why public safety comm center personnel should understand spoofing and the dangers it poses…
Read full articleThe NG9-1-1 Learning Curve
March 10, 2011Trying to master all the Next Generation 9-1-1 technological complexities is simply unrealistic. It may be more helpful for 9-1-1 officials to accept the complexities and try to understand why our new 9-1-1 systems can’t be viewed in the same straightforward manner as the past system. This understanding will provide a foundation for determining the type of technical, subject matter expertise 9-1-1 authorities and PSAP managers must have access to when drafting requirements for an NG9-1-1 system in their region.
Read full articleBleak Grant Outlook for 2011
March 3, 2011Politicians tell us that the recession has ended. If you asked a person standing in an unemployment line in New York, Philadelphia, Denver or Los Angeles if they agree with that assessment, they would probably say no. If you look at many state and local budgets, prosperity is hard to find. More and more, states are withholding funds that used to be passed on to municipalities to help with their projects.
Read full articleEmergency Calls in Finland
February 24, 2011As follow-up to discussing the complicated system of eight emergency numbers in Austria, as well as providing an overview of the 112 emergency number used in Europe, I will focus on another European Union (EU) country: Finland. Finland is famous for being home to a company that started by producing rubber boots and car tires and is today a leader in cell phone production, and for its use of the Finnish sauna. Almost every business building in the country has a wooden sauna cabin adjacent to a meeting room(s), allowing executives to continue a business meeting at a dry heat temperature of approximately 90° C (190° F).
Read full articleSign up for an APCO Committee
February 1, 2011Although July is several months away, it’s time to begin organizing APCO International’s standing committees for the 2011–2012 year. Committee appointments coincide with the APCO fiscal year, beginning in July. To allow adequate time to make committee appointments so committees can begin operating on July 1, we must start the sign-up process now and receive your committee assignment requests.
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