June 11-15 DISPATCH Monthly Magazine Preview Monday Tuesday Wednesday SLC Police-Fire Comm Photo Album NENA's Photo Album We mentioned earlier that NENA's yet-to-be - written Report Card to the Nation already has fancy covers designed for its five volumes. Well, it now also has a graphic design logo. As well, they're now calling the RCN group a "commission." For a long time, NENA's Web site address was "www.nena9-1-1.org." However, over a year ago they also reserved the address "www.nena.org." However, during formal presentations, the group's executive board members always gave the longer, more complicated address that contained "9-1-1." Did you know that Salt Lake City boasts of the first Kentucky Fried Chicken in the world? Well, it does.

Biz Meeting, Seminars Finish Week Forshee, Counterman Report On Past Year Site Visit to VECC The--essentially--last day of the 2000 annual NENA conference was dominated by the group's general meeting, an afternoon of seminars, and a site visit to the Valley Emergency Communications Center in nearby Murray. Fewer than 400 persons showed up in the ballroom -- set with 1,835 chairs -- for the association's official general meeting. First vice-president Norm Forshee and second v-p Sharon Counterman took to podiums on opposite sides of the stage and gave -- in TV news style -- a report on the past year, and a look at the future. Their talk was interspersed with videos featuring NENA members and others. The pair were introduced by out-going NENA president William Hinkle, who joked that the Marriott Hotel was missing 300 sheets, a joking reference to a company-sponsored toga party on Tuesday night. Forshee said the past year was one of "consistent progress" for the association, and "significant advancement for all." Counter man said NENA focused more on what members valued and expected from the group. She added that NENA has truly become a resource for its members, became more involved in Washington, and formed collaborations with other groups. Neither Forshee or Counterman mentioned or even hinted at the disappointments that Hinkle admitted he felt during a talk he gave at the California NENA chapter meeting last January. Prime among the issues that were not decided in accordance with NENA's position was wireless 911. "We are proud to report that we have succeeded in reaching the goals we set a year ago," Forshee said. "And I am happy to report that we are positioned to flourish in the future as an association." He then reviewed highlights of the year--the leadership shown by NENA's staff, committee members and executive board; the on-going transition to a new headquarters building; the make-over of NENA's Web site; and the work of NENA in Washington (DC). According to Forshee, NENA is now "the principal advocate" for 911 in the nation's capital. A video reiterated his statements, with comments by Jim Hobson, NENA's legal counsel out in front of the Capitol Building, and Bob Cobb, NENA's program manager. Both speakers also talked about NENA's technical forums and conferences, and how with the RCN the association has made the "the transition and transformation into a research organization." Schedule speaker Millie Webb, founder of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) had to cancel at the last minute, when she learned of hearings on federal legislation that would set the DUI blood alcohol level at .08% -- now just 18 states and D.C. have such a law. However, the local chapter head of MADD did appear, and she re-told how her husband was killed at age 41 by a female drunk driver. Humorist and motivator Phil Sorentino concluded the meeting--it's his ninth appearance at a NENA annual conference. He alternately gave inspiration advice, and offered jokes. His closing remarks were perhaps the most thought-provoking: when you die, three things happen-- heaven is whatever you want it to be, you get to see a video of your life, and you get to see videos of the the lives of everyone whom you affected while you were living. Sorentino surmised that, for a dispatcher, the latter event could be quite rewarding. Waiting For New Center The Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) is located in Murray, about 9 miles south of downtown Salt Lake. It occupies a space at one end of the red-brick Murray city offices that includes the police department. The center is an independent agency planned in 1987 and operational in 1989, administered by trustees, who are the heads of the participating jurisdictions. A governing board consists of the police and fire chiefs, and day-to-day operations are handled by designated liaisons. Most of the statistics about the center can be obtained from the center's very nice Web site at: www.vecc9-1-1.com. Suffice to say it is the largest center in the state, serves 8 jurisdictions comprising 17 agencies, has 95 dispatchers, 11 supervisors, 3 technical and 5 admin personnel, is in the process of being CALEA accredited, fielded 527,000 telephone calls during 1999, and dispatched 273,6702 police and 33,823 fire incidents in the same year. They've just broken ground about 10 miles directly west of the current location, just as the land rises up from the valley to give the dispatchers an eastern view through a huge window. That center will be finished in time for the August 2001 annual conference of APCO. During our tour, they had drawings of the current console configuration, and the future set-up. Lake the Salt Lake center, VECC has a wall showing their various awards, including a Dispatcher of the Month award. They also have a copy of their missions statement framed on the wall--and printed on the back of all dispatchers' ID cards--and the Organizational Values. The center consists of an administrative area that looks out over the dispatch floor through a large window, the dispatch floor itself, and a computer and equipment room. The dispatcher floor is divided into four areas--a conference room, police radio, fire radio and call-taking. A window allows viewing from the conference room onto the dispatch floor, and the supervisors' console. The call-takers are in a double row facing one another adjacent to the fire pod. The call-takers have just two screens, while the radio dispatchers have three. The dispatchers wear gray polo shirts with an embroidered emblem, work 8-hours shifts, and have to swipe a magnetic card in a timeclock when they on and off-duty. All new dispatchers start their training and work as a call-taker, and then after mastering that, they can move on in steps to work the police service channel, fire radio, and lastly police radio. A dispatcher trained at all positions receives a total of at least 1,192 hours of training. They are currently down 7 positions, and reportedly are contemplating mandatory overtime. For now, open shifts are figured a month in advance and posted (14-hour shift max). If a slot goes unfilled, a supervisor fills in. If there is more than one slot, they may go down one call-taker, but never a radio dispatcher slot. So far that's worked, but the overtime is apparently beginning to take its toll and fewer persons are signing up for it. There are from 14 to 24 dispatchers on-duty at any one time, depending upon workload factors. They use HTE's CAD software, Plant Equipment's VESTA product for telephones, and Motorola's Elite Gold system for radio. They currently use a mix of UHF and VHF channels for all the agencies, but will eventually participate in the state's huge (12,400 radios, 43 sites, 293 repeaters, 72 microwave antennas, 21 centers) 800 MHz trunked project. In fact, the new VECC facility will serve as headquarters for the project, in offices set aside for state telecom employees. The center operates an extensive network that reaches out to all the participating agencies, to allow access to records management software, email and other applications. Although we focused on the center itself, just like Salt Lake City's centers, the focus of the dispatchers seems to be on pride, training and purpose. They're proud of what they have and the work they do, as evidence by their willingness to have all the NENA visitors come through, to answer any question, and to invite everyone back next year to see their new center. It's also obvious from the plaques, certificates, mission statements, dispatcher photos and other materials. VECC is obviously a center that offers many examples of how an operation should be run. PBX Solution A solution to the PBX-911 issue has been available from Telident, Inc. for several years, but now there's a new twist--they've just been purchased by Florida-based Teltronics, Inc., which has been in the telephone switching equipment business. Together, they've form a team that can handle both ends of a 911 call--where it's made through a PBX, and where it's fielded in a PSAP. The new Telident 911 Solutions group has gear and software that will perform several functions -- provides the phone number and location of PBX-originated calls to the PSAP, allows local and phone company updates of PBX info, and makes on-site notifications that a 911 call has been made, by terminal display, pager or wireless phone. The software also allows the user to make updates to the phone database as phones are moved, re-numbered, etc. Illinois is the only state that has legislation requiring PBXs to transmit ANI/ALI, and another 12 states have limited requirements (usually hospitals, schools, university, etc. but not businesses). Eventually, the FCC will take action to require PBX or similar systems to seamlessly interface with the public 911 system. But for now, it seems like Telident/Teltronics has a solution that any dispatcher would appreciate--it provides more information. All-In-One Like many companies that started with computerized phone products, Canada-based CML Emergency Services has branched out to offer a complete suite of products for comm centers--they call it SeNTinel Suite. It includes CML's flagship telephone control software, records management access, CAD, ALI, mapping, CoNTact (radio control) and WebEOC (just what it says). CML's primary work has been with federal government agencies, and one of their public safety customers is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (Calif.). The Lab rolled in 911, paging, EMD, mapping and other improvements to their operations using CML's products. Surf: www.cmltech.com. New Executive Board During the closing banquet of the annual conference, NENA swore in the new members of its Executive Board. The association uses the "move-up" method of presidency--elections are for vice-presidents, who then move up in two years to the president's position. This year, moving up from First Vice-President to President was Norm Forshee, 911 Coordinator for the St. Clair County (Ill.) Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB). Moving from Second to First Vice-President was Sharon Counterman, Operations Director-Communications Bureau, Las Vegas Metro Police Department. John Melcher was elected as Second Vice-President. He's Deputy Director of the Greater Harris County (Tex.) 911 Emergency Network. In the same election, Jim Goerke was chosen as Southeastern Regional Vice-President--he's Executive Director of the Texas Commission on State Emergency Communications. Bill McMurray, ENP, Communications Dispatch Manager in the Marin County (Calif.) Sheriff's Departmen was re-elected Western Regional Vice President. We found these machines scattered around town--they're really fans of our publication here!