After 25 years, DISPATCH Monthly Magazine has switched to an on-line news and information source, and the printed edition is no longer being circulated. This change is being made because, like many other publications, the costs of production have increased and people now obtain most of their news and information from the Internet.

With this change, I can now focus my time and energy on providing you with the critical information you need to keep abreast of public safety communications issues--when it happens, not at the end of the month. By moving to an on-line edition, I'll also be able to include links to other news stories and resources, which I was unable to do with a printed page. You can also subscribe via e-mail, immediately comment on stories and participate in the on-line forum. I know that reading a printed edition at your console was convenient, but most comm centers now have Internet access at each console, making the on-line version equally convenient.

Initially, the news stories will continue to be short and to the point, and many times will have links. In the future, the coverage may include longer stories with more details.

The late Alan Burton started publication of DISPATCH Monthly Magazine in the 1980s as a way of keeping his friends up to date on public safety communications matters. The publication became larger and gained more subscribers over the years. In 1998 Alan retired and passed the publication to me, and I created a companion Web site for DISPATCH Monthly. Alan was quick to adopt to technology, despite having worked in the early days of communications. He was an early user of computers and Pagemaker software to produce DISPATCH Monthly, and I hope he would approve of moving to an Internet-only edition.

After the transition, the Web site URL for DISPATCH Monthly will remain the same, but the title of the Web page is now be "DISPATCH Magazine On-Line."

The home page lists the top stories of public safety communications, and the side columns include links to the logging tape library, other interesting news stories, the site's most-read stories, archive of stories from the print edition, and pages of reference information. Current on-line subscribers will continue to have access, and will be able to view premium content consisting of longer stories that provide more background and details than the other stories. These subscribers should look for the red star next to a story summary, and then click on that story's headline to view the full story. For the moment, no new on-line subscriptions are being solicited.

With the change to the on-line format, subscribers to the print edition of DISPATCH Monthly Magazine will receive refunds:

• If you have recently subscribed to the printed edition and never received an issue, you'll soon receive a full refund check mailed to you, your check back, or a credit card refund.
• If you subscribed to the on-line edition, and never downloaded a new issue, you'll also receive a refund.
• If you subscribed or renewed to the printed edition during the past year, you also receive a refund for undelivered issues, mailed to you over the next six months in the order of when you subscribed (Jan.-Dec.).

If you have any questions, send me an e-mail at: editor@911dispatch.com.