As part of a larger crisis response project, Google Maps has today launched a Public Alerts Web page, showing the locations of weather, earthquakes, floods and other location-specific incidents. For example, today’s map shows flooding in northern Indiana and severe thunderstorm warning in Louisiana. In a blog posting, Public Alerts engineer Steve Hakusa says, “We’re learning as we go.” He does not say how quickly information from various federal government sources will be posted on the maps. A question-and-answer page says Google will expand the range of alert sources over time, including state and private sources. Google already provides a Common Alerting Protocol-based service to which local public safety agencies can subscribe, and transmit emergency or urgent information. View the Public Alerts map page. read more

A test of texting 911 in Durham (NC) has been extended by three months to collect more data for a decision if the service should become permanent. The city, in collaboration with Intrado and Verizon Wireless, has been accepting text messages from citizens since August 2011, and routing them directly to the city’s public safety comm center for handling by dispatchers. The city has not reported on the level of success of texting 911, which is intended to help those with hearing disabilities and people who cannot directly make a voice call to 911. In a press release announcing the extension of the test period, comm center director James Soukup admitted, “There can be limitations to sending an emergency text message.” He said the city wants to thoroughly explore all the possible incident scenarios, “to see if this type of technology works and if any problems arise that must be corrected before ‘text-to-911’ technology could be implemented on a widespread level.” The press release lists several issues with text-to-911, including text messages take time to compose and transmit, only Verizon Wireless customers can text to 911 and significantly, “If customers are outside or near the edge of the county, the message may not reach the Durham Emergency Communications Center.” Read a list of all the limitations noted by the city after the break. read more

The union that represents a fired Licking County (Ohio) 911 dispatcher has filed a grievance with the county, saying the dispatcher accidentally failed to confirm a fire dispatch, and it was not a deliberate or malicious act. The county fired 5-year veteran Matt Wheeler after an investigation and disciplinary hearing. According to the county, Wheeler fielded a phone call last November from a citizen reporting a house fire. Wheeler believed that the fire station alerting system had been activated, when in fact, it had not. As a result, no paging tones were transmitted, and the Newark fire department was delayed by about four minutes. A mutual aid fire department arrived first and encountered the resident outside, who suffered burns and smoke inhalation. The county says Wheeler has previous discipline, including a two 15-day suspensions, separate verbal and written reprimands, and a one-day suspension. The union notes that the Wheeler’s actions were “human error, that can happen to anyone.” They ask that he be reinstated. Read more about the discipline here.

After three years of legal action, the state of New York has agreed to pay back $25 million to Tyco Electronics Corp., part of $50 million the state recovered after canceling the company’s contract for a state-wide public safety radio network. The $2 billion radio network was based on new technology, which the company claimed would provide adequate coverage. However, after many delays, few implementations and complaints of poor coverage, the state decided to end the contract. Upon cancellation in 2009, the state took $50 million from a line of credit posted by M/A-COM as part of its contract agreement. M/A-COM was later purchased by Tyco, who sued the state over the amount of money that it owed the state. In court documents filed this week, the state agreed to a partial refund. Download (pdf) an earlier Court of Claims document that describes the lawsuit.

The Maine legislature is considering a bill that would—for at least the third time—change the surcharge on monthly telephone bills to support the state’s E911 system, and would expand the surcharge to some non-voice devices, including iPads. The bill proposed by Rep. Stacey Fitts (R) would increase the surcharge from the current 45¢ a month to 50¢ to fund improvements for a next-generation 911 (NG911) network.  The surcharge was originally 50¢ in 2008 when it was lowered to 30¢, the same year the state diverted the E911 surplus to the general fund. In 2009 the surcharge was increased to 45¢. In addition to a surcharge increase, the bill would add voice-over-Internet (VoIP) devices to those subject to the surcharge, including iPads using a cellular carrier under a monthly plan. Download (pdf) the proposed bill here., and read more about the bill here.

In the second reported location mix-up in days, a San Antonio (Tex.) police calltaker misheard a Spanish-speaking 911 caller, and entered the wrong address into the computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. The caller was reporting a possible assault, and a radio dispatcher then sent officers to the wrong location, about a mile away. Coincidentally, officers investigating the original incident then heard a radio call of an assault at nearby address. The officers arrived to hear a woman screaming, and detained a suspect. The handling officers then believed that the second incident was the one originally reported by the 911 caller. No one questioned the original location or listened to the logging tape of the 911 call. About six hours later officers discovered the body of a murder victim in an alley near the original call location. Police chief William McManus admitted the mistake, and explained that both the caller and calltaker spoke Spanish. The caller was reporting the location 835 Menchaca St. and repeated it twice. However, the calltaker confused the number eight in Spanish (pronounced “oh-cho”) with the number 11 (pronounced “own-say”). McManus said the department is analyzing how such a mistake could be prevented in the future.

On the heels of complaints by several public safety agencies, the federal government has completed a review of a grant-funded wireless project for San Francisco region public safety agencies, and has found several major issues, including misrepresentations of facts to support the grant. The Inspector General’s office of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) says the issues may not require termination of the grant, but do provide lessons for improved administration of future DOC public safety wireless grant projects. The issues date to 2009 when Congress appropriated funds to build urban area public safety radio network, including one to connect hundreds of agencies in the San Francisco region. But the BayWeb project generated controversy among participating agencies when the federal grant was given directly to Motorola instead of being put out for bids. The city of San Jose requested an investigation in 2010, and a May 2011 report recommended several improvements to the grant program. Now the IG has issued a 13-page follow-up report that documents specific BayWeb problems: defects in the grant application, misstatements on the application about grant governance, misrepresentation of the project’s readiness and authority to use the assigned 700 MHz spectrum, and a flawed vendor selection process. The IG recommended no punitive actions, but rather closer scrutiny and control of the grant process. Download (pdf) the DOC report here. Update: The Department of Commerce submitted a response to the Inspector General’s office, calling the radio project “cutting edge” and “challenging to implement.” The DOC said, “The governance framework related to interoperable networks is a risk element,” and generally challenged the IG’s conclusions. Download (pdf) the DOC response here.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg (NC) dispatcher may have misheard an address during a 911 from the boyfriend of a woman who was later found murdered, and the police chief says they are now investigating how the call was handled. Danielle Watson, 25, spoke to her boyfriend at about 10:15 p.m., there was some commotion in the background, and the call ended abruptly. She later failed to return home, and her her boyfriend called police just after midnight to say he believed the restaurant might have been robbed. But police chief Rodney Monroe says the calltaker may have misheard the address of the restaurant, and officers were dispatched to a residential location about four miles away. Monroe and communications director Capt. Mike Campagna say they have listened to the logging tape of the call several times, and it’s not clear if the boyfriend gave the correct address of 7930 Rea Road, or 3930 Rea Road, where officers were dispatched. The boyfriend believes he gave the correct address. Monroe says there is no requirement that dispatchers read back the address to the caller for confirmation. Officers arrived at the wrong location about 20 minutes after the 911 call, but found nothing. The calltaker had also entered “Plum Biscuit” instead of “Flying Biscuit,” the restaurant where Watson worked. Monroe said there is some indication that an officer tried to call the boyfriend back, but it’s not clear what number the officer called. Watson’s body was discovered in the rear parking lot of the restaurant near a dumpster about six hours later as police were handling an unrelated theft report. A co-worker was arrested later that day, and Watson’s stolen car was found near his home. Read more, listen to the 911 call and learn of the boyfriend’s reaction here, and a follow-up story here.

Weber (Utah) Area Dispatch Center dispatcher Erica Engstrom was working last week when a regional task force raided a house where a suspected drug user was living. The resident opened fire on officers, killing Agent Jared Francom and wounding two other officers. Hundreds of officers, Utah’s governor and other officials attended Francom’s funeral yesterday, where a local TV station interviewed Engstrom. Another TV interview with Engstrom is here, and an interview here.

In a press conference yesterday New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced completion of major improvements to the city’s 911 and public safety radio systems, and said the city is now at work on a back-up facility for the communications center to ensure total reliability. “We now have all of the City’s emergency response agencies in one place and on the same system,” Bloomberg told reporters, “with state-of-the-art technology that can handle the large number of calls we see during big emergencies,” Bloomberg said. He appeared at the city’s MetroTech Center public safety answering point (PSAP) to say that 911 calls are now answered within 10 seconds 98 percent of the time, and the VESTA telephone system has been tested to handle up to 50,000 calls per hour, about 40 times the normal volume. The city began the latest upgrade project in 2004 after reviewing operations during the September 11th terrorist attacks. The back-up center in the Bronx should be completed in 2015, Bloomberg said, and will be able to fully support dispatching functions. Download (pdf) the city’s press release on the announcement, and watch a video of the press conference (click in right column). read more

The Michigan Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for next week on the issue of governmental immunity for two Detroit dispatchers who handled 911 calls in 2006 from a five year-old boy reporting his mother was unconscious. Dispatchers Sherry Nichols and Terri Sutton believed the boy was making prank calls, and did not dispatch EMS units to his apartment. In fact, Robert Turner’s mother lay unconscious for over 3½ hours until Sutton sent a police officer to scold the boy for making a second prank call. The officer discovered Sherrill Turner dead on the floor. Turner’s family sued the dispatchers for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, both dispatchers have claimed immunity under Michigan civil law. A lower court denied their claim of immunity and ordered the civil trial to proceed. Now, both defendants have appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which has scheduled oral arguments for next Wednesday. Download (pdf) the written arguments submitted to the court on the issue of immunity. read more

The Grady County (Okla.) sheriff’s dispatcher who fielded a 911 call from a woman reporting burglars at her rural home offered some serious advice: “You have to do what you have to do to protect your baby.” During that call on New Year’s Eve, dispatcher Diane Graham told 18 year-old Sarah McKinley that she couldn’t offer advice on whether she could shoot the man who was pounding on her door. At the time, McKinley was holding a shotgun and pistol after barricading the door to her trailer with a couch. However, as Graham dispatched deputies to the scene, she made it clear to McKinley that she could protect herself if the suspect threatened her in any way. The entire 911 call with McKinley lasted 21 minutes, part of it after Graham transferred the call to the Blanchard police department, hoping their officers were closer to the incident. The suspect eventually broke into the house and McKinley fatally shot him, an event caught on the call logging tape. A second suspect fled but later turned himself in and was charged with murder. McKinley and her baby were unhurt. The incident has sparked worldwide attention, both for the incident’s drama, but also over using deadly force to protect yourself at home. Read more here, and watch a news interview with Graham after the break. read more

The family of a missing Hot Springs Village (Ark.) police dispatcher say they believe a body found on New Year’s Eve is that of Dawna Natzke, 46, but police are waiting for crime lab tests before making a formal announcement. Natzke left a Christmas party on Dec. 21st with her boyfriend and then went home. The boyfriend, 46 year-old Kevin Duck, has told police he went to sleep while Natzke was still up. When he awoke the next morning, Natzke was gone, he said. She was reported missing the next day when she did not appear for work at the police department. Police have not named anyone a suspect or person-of-interest in the case. Natzke’s car was found earlier, on Christmas Eve day in the Oauchita National Forest, burned and charred. No sign of Natzke was found at the fire scene. Then volunteer searchers located a body last Saturday about 5½ miles from the location of the car. Police say foul play is suspected in the death of that person, but won’t confirm the identity of the victim until state crime lab tests are completed. Update: This afternoon Natzke’s sister Vicky Hegyi confirmed that police had visited the family, and told them the body has been positively identified as Dawna Natzke. One of Natzke’s friends told the Associated Press that a text message she received from Natzke’s phone seems suspicious.

Police have released a haunting 42-second logging tape of a 911 call, with whispers from a house where five Texas family members were found shot to death, and a six person apparently committed suicide. Investigators for the Grapevine Police Department said the dispatcher was unable to hear the man’s words, but promptly dispatched officers to investigate the hang-up call. When patrol units arrived, they noticed several bloody bodies through a window, broke in and discovered the murder scene. Police say the suspect, Azizolah Yazdanpanah, 56, was the estranged husband of one of the female victims. He arrived at a family Christmas gathering dressed as Santa Claus, and was armed with two semi-auto pistols. Police officials say the police response was not delayed by the dispatcher’s inability to hear the suspect saying in a very low voice, “Help me. Help me.” At another point on the tape, a voice can be heard whispering, “I’m shooting, I’m shooting.” Police say the whispers were only audible while carefully listening to an enhanced version of the logging tape played at a higher volume. Listen to the 911 call tape here to determine what you can hear.

Dispatchers at the Albuquerque (NM) Police Department answered a 911 call reporting the abuse of two young girls, and have since taken up a collection to make sure the children have clothes, toys and other things they need to recover.