|
|
|
Wednesday, August 20 2008 |
|
When a bear attacked a 15 year-old participant in a 24-hour bike marathon outside Anchorage (Alas.), the next person riding down the trail was Pete Basinger--luckily. It was Basinger's calm voice on a remarkable call with Anchorage police-fire dispatchers that described the remote, night-time location, took medical advice and gave victim Petra Davis reassurance that help was coming. But it was 23 minutes until EMS and police could find the trail head, form up armed protection from a possible bear attack and then hike in. The comm center tape of the call has now been released, and is very instructional. Basinger tried dialing 911 twice but couldn't get through, and so dialed the race's coordinator, who dialed 911. The recording is the call that a dispatcher made back to Basinger to obtain information. Listen to the call here, and read more about the incident here. [maps] |
|
|
Wednesday, August 20 2008 |
|
Pierce County (Wash.) is on the edge of the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, and the population has been growing for several years, putting pressure on the sheriff's public safety comm center. Now several agencies dispatched by the center say service is poor because of understaffing, a situation the sheriff acknowledges. According to chief deputyh Neil Gulbranson, the comm center hasn't increased the number of dispatcher/jailer positions in 14 years, even though calls for service has doubled over the past five years. Local fire departments say their incidents are being delayed because of low staffing, including EMS incidents. Read a long story about the staffing here. |
|
|
Wednesday, August 20 2008 |
|
The probationary director of Hamilton County's (Tenn.) 911 Center has been fired, in the midst of a complex project to bring all county public safety communications under one roof and a single administrative agency. 911 District officials declined to detail why Dennis Norwood was fired, but did acknowledge it will have some impact on the consolidation project, including hiring and training several more dispatchers. Read more and watch a TV report on the situation here. |
|
|
Wednesday, August 20 2008 |
 A former Horry County (SC) 911 dispatcher is among six persons arrested and charged with murder, and the prosecution also accuses her of being the group's mastermind. Crystal Turner, 27, allegedly lured the 54 year-old victim out of a restaurant in Galivants Ferry, according to court documents. He was then driven several miles outside of town by other members of the group where he was shot and robbed. Officials wouldn't provide details on whether any of the six knew the victim or how he was selected. County 911 officials aid Turner worked as a dispatcher from Aug. 2006 to last April, but declined to say under what circumstances she left. Turner is being held in jail without bail. |
|
|
Wednesday, August 20 2008 |
|
A Yuma (Ariz.) Public Safety Communications Center dispatcher was injured on Sunday during fire department training exercises on the Colorado River, when the personal watercraft she was riding came into shallow water. Heather Monreal was thrown from the jet ski while riding as a passenger and suffered back injuries. The firefighter driver leg injuries. Both were treated and released. A fire captain being pulled on a skid as part of a rescue training exercise was more seriously injured and was flown to a hospital. Monreal " was participating in the training as a part of orientation to Fire Department operations," city officials said in a press release, and the jet ski was going about 30 mph at the time. The Yuma comm center handles dispatching for both the police and fire departments. |
| |
|
|
Tuesday, August 19 2008 |
|
City officials in Plano (Tex.) are complaining that their radio-controlled lawn sprinkler system is being disrupted by a new public safety radio system 30 miles away. The Southwest Regional Communications Center installed the new radio system to link Cedar Hill, DeSoto and Duncanville, all suburbs of Dallas. The trouble started in early June when Plano gardeners noticed that trees and grass were dying, and then discovered that watering schedules for the $5 million sprinkler system weren't being followed. The SRCC's Kenwood radio system uses 3-towers, 15-channels and 600 radios in trunked mode, operating on an unusual MPT1327 protocol in the 453/460 MHz band. Plano's telemetry radio system reportedly operates on a secondary basis on frequencies normally assigned to the Business Service, with low-power transmitters. Read more about the situation here. |
|
|
Tuesday, August 19 2008 |
|
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has affirmed the murder conviction of a man who was identified by the victim during a 911 call minutes before she died of stab wounds. The court considered its precedents in the case, which set out tests for determining if information obtained during a 911 call is "evidentiary" or "testimonial," and if the victim's statements were inadmissible heresay. Considering the issues, the court ruled that the victim's statements were spontaneous, and even though made to an "agent of law enforcement," it was in response to questions intended to speed a medical response. Download (pdf) the court's full opinion here. |
|
|
Tuesday, August 19 2008 |
|
A second incident has occurred at the Bucks County (Penn.) 911 center that started with a response delay, and ended with the death of a woman. Officials say a woman suffered a heart attack at home last Sunday after returning from shopping and her friend dialed 911 from a cellular phone. The friend knew only the home's general location, so Solebury police and EMS units were sent to the area. After 11 minutes police located the home and radioed the exact address to the dispatcher, who transposed the street and cross-street names, sending an ambulance one mile away to the wrong location. While officers performed CPR, the radio dispatcher realized the mistake after eight minutes and redirected the ambulance to the correct address. County officials said the involved dispatcher was suspended two days without pay and would be retrained. In March, nine dispatchers were disciplined and the center's director retired early after another woman died when her 911 call reporting that her bed was on fire was put on hold.
|
|
|
Tuesday, August 19 2008 |
|
Fired Fulton County (Geo.) dispatcher Gina Conteh has appealed her firing for mishandling a 911 call that resulted in a delayed response. The caller later died from breathing problems. Conteh's appeal will be heard by the county's Personnel Board on Aug. 28th, and it could be sustained, reversed or modify the discipline. At the meeting, the board will also hear an appeal of an earlier suspension that Conteh was given for misconduct. According to personnel records released by the county, Conteh has served at least six unpaid suspensions. She was also recommended to be fired twice, but instead was given suspensions. In other news, the county has hired Oregon-based Emergency Services Consulting for $49,000 to examine the center's operations and provide a report on any needed improvements within 60 days.
|
|
|
Monday, August 18 2008 |
|
Former Monroe County (Penn.) 911 Control Center dispatcher James Kubinak has pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing the administration of justice, in connection with allegations by the prosecutor that he tipped off a friend--the subject of a drug investigation--of a future police raid. He awaits sentencing, and the charge of criminal use of a communication facility is still pending. Kubinak was arrested last May after police said he made two calls to his friend from the comm center using a personal cellular phone. He was fired shortly after his arrest.
|
|
|
Sunday, August 17 2008 |
|
Several years ago I started collecting other Web site links and posting them on a page for reference. But the work required to keep links accurate takes lots of work, and there are better ways to provide this information. So I've completely revamped the Web links page. First, visitors can easily view the list of links by category, and also see a description of the Web site. Second, visitors can now submit their own suggestions of other Web sites for posting on the page. After approval, the recommended site will appear among all the others. And lastly, behind the scenes there's a easy way for me to check that all the listed are still valid. I'll run that process every once-in-a-while to make sure you never see a link error. Hope you like it! |
|
|
Friday, August 15 2008 |
|
If you missed last week's Kansas City APCO conference, the association has posted lots of sessions and video clips on-line…for a fee. You can select from several different conference tracks, which package together related sessions. The cost ranges from $89 to $149, and conferences back to 2004 are also available. Check the APCOtv Web site for some clips from the conference. |
|
|
Thursday, August 14 2008 |
 The FCC has finally approved a petition from vehicle tracking company LoJack for technical changes to its system to improve performance and pave the way for new services in the future. The company requested the changes in 2004, asking to increase permitted transmitter power for base stations and tracking devices, to modify the vehicle transmitter cycle when activated, allow use of tracking devices for more than just stolen vehicles, and other technical changes. LoJack operates on a 173 MHz channel non-exclusively, although no other vendors currently use the channel, operates in 26 states and DC, and tracks 3 million vehicles. Download (pdf) the FCC's 30-page action here, and read how LoJack intends to begin competing with OnStar using these changes, requested under the cover of "narrowbanding." |
|
|
Thursday, August 14 2008 |
Recording company NICE Systems has announced the recipients of their 2008 "PSAPs Finest Awards," including a tie for Telecommunicator of the Year. The honorees are:
- Communications Center Director Of The Year - Yvette Humphrey, Operations Coordinator, New York City Police Department, Communications Section
- Line Supervisor Of The Year - Michael J. Thompson, Telecommunicator Supervisor, La Crosse County (Wisc.) Public Safety Communications
- Telecommunicator Of The Year - Shalise Hunter, Communications Specialist III, Kansas City (Mo.) Police Departmen, and Heather Davis, Telecommunicator III, ECCS/Virginia Beach (Virg.) 9-1-1
- Technician Of The Year - Sean M. Sparks, Supervisor of Dispatch Operations, Onondaga County (NY) 9-1-1 Center
|
|
|
Thursday, August 14 2008 |
|
A battle is shaping up among cellular carriers for the public safety marketplace, pitting Sprint/Nextel against Verizon in print advertisements, press releases and e-mail from corporate communications staffers. In an e-mail from a Sprint/Nextel manager, the company says it has "more than 15 years of experience," while Verizon "is just stepping into the world of public safety communications." The e-mail claims Sprint/Nextel is a "leader" in the field because of its faster Nextel Direct Connect feature (Verizon "offers a slower call setup"), group services ("Our competitor grants talk permission prior to confirming called party availability (you could talk approximately 15 seconds to no one) and they have no off-network capabilities."), and prioritized communications ("Our competitor does not offer any such capabilities."). Sprint/Nextel also says it has an Emergency Response Team (ERT) has a 25,000-phone inventory, while Verizon has just 200 handsets to be used during a disaster. Read public safety info on Sprint/Nextel and listen to a Verizon podcast on their new IP-based interop solution. |
|
|
Thursday, August 14 2008 |
|
A follow-up article in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper says that there have been few improvements in the response times to EMS incidents since an article last April that pointed out delayed responses to many calls. The city's goal of arriving at the highest priority EMS calls within 6-1/2 minutes 90% of the time is rarely met. They also have not added new ambulances, and have not taken action on a consultant's report about problems at the understaffed comm center. Read more about the situation, along with a podcast and map, here. |
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next > End >>
| | Results 1 - 18 of 437 |
** Links in older stories may not longer be active **
|
The Buzz
|
The Public Safety Spectrum Trust (PSST) was appointed the licensee for 700 MHz spectrum allocated by the FCC for a nationwide public safety radio network. Their Web site has more information about the group, its goals and some documents. |
Who's Visiting
There are 7 visitors online
Custom T-Shirt
Just for Dispatchers!
Receive stories
by daily e-mail
Story Archive
-
January, 2008
-
December, 2007
-
October, 2007
-
October, 2007
-
September, 2007
-
August, 2007
-
July, 2007
-
June, 2007
-
May, 2007
-
April, 2007
|
