As in other years, we couldn't figure out the music selections NENA played before the early morning sessions: Willie Nelson one moment, and "I'm You Vehicle, Baby" the next.

For the 300 or so who showed up at 8 a.m. for the general session, they had to wait another 15 minutes before it started.

The annual toga party and the blow-out at the Slippery Noodle were all the talk the next day.

Let's hear it for OnStar! Two Indianapolis Colts football players were carjacked on the city's north side. They jumped into another vehicle that was OnStar-equipped, pressed the "Help" button, and followed the suspect until he flipped the car and was captured by police, who had been called by the OnStar call center.

Looking for a new job? A challenging job? The District of Columbia is looking for someone to fill the new position of Agency Director, Office of Unified Communications, who will administer the yet-to-be merged police/fire/EMD communications operations. Not for the faint at heart! Surf www.cabotinc.com.

2002 Annual Conference
National Emergency Number Association (NENA)

Tuesday - Educational Sessions & PSAP Tour

During the general session, NENA president Sharon Counterman introduced the group's committee chairs, who summarized the year's past activities and gave the crowd a glimpse of the year ahead. But first she introduced one of NENA's highest ranking state elected officials, Indiana State Treasurer Tim Barry, who also is assigned the duty of chairing the state's Wireless 911 Board.

Barry was formerly treasurer of Allen County, and said his office was above the county's 911 center. Barry mentioned that Indiana has begun a public education campaign wireless E911 Phase II coverage, and that is has posted a Web site to allow residents to check if their carrier provides location service.

Barry related that he went into a cellular store to purchase a phone, and got into a heated discussion with an employee over whether a cellular phone in Indiana transmits the caller's location--the store employee was misinformed, he said. Several weeks later, after public service announcements were played on a local radio station, he returned to the same cellular store, and found that the employees were now up-to-date on the issue of wireless E911 location features.

Barry urged audience to become involved in the political process--both at upwards towards the federal government, and back down to the local government--in order to educate politicians about the critical nature of 911.

Counterman next introduced Dr. Jeffrey Runge, administrator of the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has taken a much more active role in promoting improved communications among public safety agencies. He noted that the NHTSA is "authorized" by Congress every six years, and that 911 has never been among its designated duties. Nevertheless, Runge said, the NHTSA has become involved in 911 matters since it was first implemented in 1968, "because it's the right thing to do." He expects that 911 responsibilities will be included in the next authorization, which should be passed by Congress by year's end.

Runge noted that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for children, and for those under age 35. He also said that president George Bush has recently decided to re-energize the nation's neighborhood watch programs in order to help the homeland defense effort, which will involve the nation's public safety comm centers. He said that Department of Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta, which oversees the NHTSA, is also committed to improving public safety communications.

He said there are many rural areas of the country where public safety communications and addressing are not fully implemented. He says the 911 can not only help link citizens to a PSAP, but also carry additional motor vehicle safety data in the future, such as automatic crash notification (ACN).

He noted that Mineta met in early April with 911 stakeholders and announced an DOT initiative that will seek input and advice from NENA, APCO and other groups. The NHTSA has provided funding for various tasks, and he said that steering group had completed an action plan for each stakeholder, "to get the job done." Some of the challenges he mentioned are state-wide coordination, funding, and identification of local leadership and stakeholders, "that will drive this initiative at the local level."

NENA's role in the initiative is to take the lead on monitoring deployment of wireless E911 across the nation, develop model plans and protocols for local implementation, educating local PSAPs about implementation needs and strategies, and assisting with the creation of local cost recovery agreements by conducting national cost analyses. Mineta also wants NENA's help in conducting an advanced roundtable this fall on the issue. "We want to make sure that we are looking far enough ahead and considering all the technological options as we design the next generation of the 911 system," Runge said. "And you need to be at the table."

"To get this done," Runge said, "we have to work together. I ask you to support your leaders in the initiative to create a seamless E911 system," Runge said. "We believe there is nothing more important than health and safety."

Committee Reports

Billy Ragsdale gave a report from the Technical Committee, which has put together a mission statement to further the creation of a future path plan for NENA. It reads in part, "To recognized as the voice of 911 in North America, by providing specific directions to the industry and governing bodies that will result in a logical , economical and dependable, ubiquitous E911 system throughout the United States and Canada."

Ragsdale said it was a "very ambitious" mission statement, but added, "I fully believe... and I really think NENA's whole belief is that it's very achievable." He said there are political obstacles, but that with total membership support, they came be overcome. "NENA is the 911 leader," Ragsdale said. "NENA has responsibility, because they are the leader to the citizens of the United States and Canada to provide the most advanced 911 system that can be developed."

John Ellison, chair of the 9-1-1 Center Operations committee came to the podium wearing a most patriotic shirt composed of the Stars and Stripes. He said there are working groups on wireless implementation and operations, contingency planning, accessibility, human resources, standard operating procedures and public education. He said the wireless group is particularly busy with issues related to handling hang-up calls, service agreements and Phase I/II implementation. The public education group is considering a plan to purchase materials in bulk, and to re-sell them to smaller agencies that can't afford to buy in bulk.

He said the standard operating procedures group will soon be coming out with several useful documents, including one that sets out answering protocols, answer time standards, and how to answer various types of calls (silent, hang-up, open line, etc.). The human resource group will publish documents on staff scheduling practices and procedures (including shift samples) and a new employee orientation handbook.

Ellison said there will be a September Best Practices Conference in St. Louis focusing on 911 operations. He asked for participation from members, either on a general on-going basis, or on a temporary, topic-specific basis.

Ben Goodloe is president of the NENA Institute, which administers the Emergency Number Professional certification program. He said that more than 431 persons now certificated. He said the test had recently been revised to focus on 50% management skills and 50% on operations. He admitted that the test was difficult, but challenged members to, "accept the challenge. You know your business and you will excel."

Richard Taylor outlined the "Spirit To Serve" program that NENA participated in with Marriott Hotels this year. He said 23 members turned out on Sunday to do landscaping work in Garfield Park, the city's oldest.

John Melcher summarized the progress of NENA's "Report Card to the Nation," including how it was introduced last Sept. 11. He said that the Washington (DC) press conference to introduce the RCN was nearing an end when the Pentagon was attacked. He said that his pager alerted him to what happened, and he shared the information with several U.S. Senators who were at the conference.

He said the final piece of the RCN, the system survey and resource guide, should be ready within the next month and a half. He said that lots of from that guide will be on-line, and will be searchable by several criteria. The information will continue to be updated with new or revised resources. He said the DOT contract to collect PSAP information is on schedule, and about half-way completed, he said.

Lastly, two young heroes were honored by the "9-1-1 For Kids" program and Reddy Fox. Counterman said today's children were selected from among dozens of nominations submitted by local NENA chapters.

Alex (8 yrs.) and Katie Walsh (6 yrs.) were out fishing with uncle, Craig Ferguson, several miles from land in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida. Ferguson accidentally fell overboard, and could not swim back against the currents to the boat. The youngsters dialed 911 and talked to a dispatcher as they devised a rescue plan-- Alex said he would start up the boat and motor over to his uncle, who later said he was getting very weak. With Katie guiding him, Alex piloted the boat closer to Ferguson, who then was able to clamber into the boat. He had been in the water some 45 minutes, and the wind had blown the boat away from him.

The youngsters appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and were quite charming. When they came on-stage to be honored by NENA, they were equally charming. They said that their uncle now wasn't allowed out on the boat--unless he took his two nephews with them. The both received special trophies and certificates--and a standing ovation from the audience.

PSAP Tour

The Indianapolis-Marion County Communications center has consolidated public safety communications for the metro area of 800,000 residents. They field about 2 million telephone calls and dispatch

The agency has about 170 total employees, of which about 100 job positions are telecommunicators. They have about 10-15 open positions right now. They handle calltaking and unit dispatching for the Indianapolis police and fire departments, the Marion County sheriff, seven surrounding area fire departments and the county-wide EMS agency.

The region's fire and EMS communications were consolidated in 1994, the city was merged into the operation in 1995, and the current facility was opened in 2001. Radio communications are on a Motorola 800 MHz trunked system that handles 4,200 radios. The communications operation is managed by a sheriff's chief, but supervised by civilians. The radio system allows officers from several "island" cities within the county to interoperate on pursuits and other emergencies, and to communicate with the State Police, who have a similar radio system.

The center itself is bright and airy and features a green color motif. There is a break room (under video surveillance from the supervisor's podium), an in-hall bank of lockers and meeting room. An adjacent garage houses two mobile command posts.

The comm center is a one-story brick building inconspicuously located in a city park. It contains the dispatch operation, supporting offices and the city's radio technicians. The comm center consists of one large room for police operations, divided by a glass wall, and a separate fire dispatch operation across the hall. They have consoles and furniture from Dispatch Products Co.

Police calltakers answer the phones (including 911) using Tiburon CAD and Plant Equipment Inc.'s VESTA software. If the call is consider "hot," they immediately broadcast the basic information on the radio as they enter it into CAD. The calltakers use APCO's emergency medical dispatch protocol cards to assist those persons reporting medical emergencies.

Radio dispatchers, on the other side of the glass wall, handle unit dispatch for the various police districts. They have three, 20-inch LCD screens plus a smaller 15-inch CRT for radio control.

Fire dispatcher work 12-hour shifts and have their own calltaking and dispatch crews that staff nine consoles. They handle fire units from 29 stations both within the city, and in outlying townships in the county.

The center is phasing in PEI's Orion mapping application, first to display ALI incident locations, and then later it will be linked to CAD to show incident, unit and eventually Phase II locations.

Check our photo album that includes photos of the Indianapolis, Marion County Communications Center.