A Louisiana state appeals court has reversed the discipline handed out to two New Orleans fire dispatchers for their absence after Hurricane Katrina. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeal said the 30 and 60-day suspensions given dispatchers Eddie Fuller and Wanda Newsome respectively were based on an “arbitrary and capricious” deadline to return to work. Fuller was on duty and evacuated to Baton Rouge when Katrina struck, while Newsome was on vacation. The New Orleans Fire Department set a Sept. 22nd date for all employees to return to work, but Fuller returned Sept. 30th and Newsome on Sept. 29th. A Peer Review Board handed out the suspensions, which the Civil Service Commission upheld. The dispatchers appealed to the state court, which ruled 3-0 that, “In our opinion, these two firefighters, both with unblemished disciplinary records, did the best they could under horrific circumstances to return to work as quickly as possible.” Fuller testified that he continuously tried to telephone the department to determine when to report, but could not get through. Newsome was in Atlanta and had similar trouble reaching anyone with definitive information on returning to work. [The court's decision is not yet posted on-line.]

A Johnston County (NC) resident dialed 911 after encountering two men on his property who he believed were stealing lawn care equipment, and after he rammed their car, fatally injuring one of the suspects. The resident claimed he accidentally struck the car, pinning the man between the car and a fence post. Listen to his call and the sheriff’s dispatcher who answered the call here.

Newspaper columnist Mike Moore in the Journal Times of Racine (Wisc.) writes of police dispatcher Charlene Thomas and her off-duty work to help an elderly man. Read the story here.

Officials of Stockton (Calif.) and San Joaquin County have broken off negotiations intended to avoid a trial in a lawsuit filed over dispatching policies. The county ordered cities to route EMS telephone calls to the American Medical Response (AMR) comm center for handling, but Stockton refused, saying it would add time and complexity to the process of handling critical incidents. Both the city and county filed lawsuits, but then last April both sides agreed to mediate the dispute. Now both sides decided to break off talks. Read more about the on-going dispute and some Web comments here.

A release of the halon fire extinguishing system at the Miami (Fla.) 911 center forced the evacuation of 24 dispatchers early Sunday morning from the fourth-floor comm center at police-fire headquarters. Five dispatchers were taken to a hospital for treatment after they complained of breathing problems, but they were later released. Officials said they were investigating why the halon system activated, possibly a faulty sensor. During the evacuation, all telephone calls were routed to other comm center for handling, and then relayed back to the city’s mobile command post for dispatching to field units. Officials said that dispatching operations were using a back-up center while crews cleaned up the center and re-charged the halon system.

NENA has posted the latest draft version of standards for Next Generation 9-1-1, this time including so-called “Stage 2″ specifications for the architecture and interfaces. Some of the 133-page document is very technical, but it provides valuable insights into what the future E911 system will look like. Download (pdf) the document here.

The private Action Ambulance company is posting three ambulances in various parts of Baxter County (Ark.) so they can accept more runs from the county’s 911 center, in competition with the five EMS units fielded by the Baxter Regional Medical Center. The county originally was dispatching every fourth incident to Action Ambulance when the company opened in 2005. But the company went to court and received a 50/50 split arrangement from a judge. Last month the 911 center switched to dispatching the closest EMS units, which gave Action Ambulance an average of 3.8 emergency incidents a day. Company spokeswoman Nancy Melton said the posting of ambulances is a trial to see if they can accept more incidents each day from the county center. Read more about the competition and the rotation system here.

Scanner monitors in Bradford County (Penn.) reported a strange broadcast on a county law enforcement and emergency management channel: a message that sounded like a political advertisement for commissioner Doug McLinko. The scannerists say the message was repeated several times, asking voters to “re-elect me for commissioner as I voted against the hiring of (911 coordinator) Robert Repasky.” The message even included the standard, “Paid for by the Committee to Not Hire Robert Repasky.” County commissioner Nancy Schrader said the voice on the broadcast appears to be disguised, possibly even computer-generated. McLinko told reporters he did not create the message nor have any role in it being played on the county’s radio network. The committee mentioned in the message does not exist, McLinko said. McLinko cast the lone “no” vote when Repasky was hired by the county commissioners. The county uses a 155 MHz radio system that covers law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies.

The husband of Luzerne County 911 dispatcher Carli Dennis was found guilty of her murder after a 10-day trial, and he was immediately sentenced to life in prison after the verdict was read. Jeffrey Dennis was accused of shooting his wife in the head while she slept after learning she was having an affair with a colleague at work. Dennis took the stand to say that his wife had shot herself, despite his having lunged for the gun to try to stop her. Jeffrey Dennis is a former Dallas Township police officer, and denied having verbally or physically abused his wife. He told several different accounts of the shooting to friends after it occurred, which the prosecutor used to attack his credibility during the trial. Forensic evidence focused on the blood spatter and the shell casing to prove Carli Dennis’ wound wasn’t self-inflicted.

Cumberland County (Penn.) officials issued a press release boasting they’ll receive $6 million in free radios and accessories from Sprint/Nextel “as part of a national effort to eliminate interference.” The agreement is part of a Nextel-suggested, FCC-mandated rebanding of the 800 MHz band that is still in-progress. The press release puts a particular spin on the deal, noting that county law enforcement agencies have been using the M/A-COMM radio system since 2005, while fire and EMS agencies just started using the system last July. Read the entire release here.

Salt Lake City (Utah) TV station KSL investigated why some 911 calls aren’t being immediately answered by a calltaker at the Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center, and found that understaffing is behind it. Reporter Debbie Dujanovic found several callers who reached a recording instead of a live operator, and who then hung up to dial back again, putting their call back at the end of the call queue. Read the story, listen to the newly-revised ACD recording, and read the public education materials here.

Thousands of 911 calls are going unanswered at the Independence (Mo.) Police Department’s comm center each year because of poor management and understaffing, according to an audit by the city’s management analyst. The 72-page draft report was released last week, stating that an average of 20 calls to 911 aren’t answered each day. The center is managed by the police department, but handles police, fire and EMS incidents, the audit noted, creating management issues. “The Division’s staff does not work as a team,” the audit said. “Instead, the staff is characterized by cliques that often undermine one another.” There is also distrust among comm center staff, and management and staff communications are poor. The comm center hasn’t been fully staffed since spring 2000, the report noted, the center itself is dark, secluded and in poor condition, and the the center has no formal, written policies and procedures.

The city of Amherst (Mass.) turned on its new Phase II equipment last month, and on the first day it helped find a lost hiker. Comm center director Rita Burke said several other hikers have been located since. In one case the hiker dialed 911 for help, and dispatchers pinpointed his location. Police were dispatched, and then a sergeant also dailed 911, pinpointing his location. By using the two Phase II calls, dispatchers were able to guide the sergeant to the lost hiker. The new gear and training was paid by the Statewide Emergency Telecommunications Boards (SETB).

The British government continues its public inquest into the shooting death of a man who intelligence forces had followed from a home of suspected terrorists. The surveillance operation took place after the July 2005 terrorist bombings in London. The man was followed into The Underground, boarded a train, and was then confronted and killed by an anti-terrorist team. It turned out the victim had no connection to the terrorist attacks. The surveillance was coordinated from Room 1600 at Scotland Yard, and testimony is that it was crowded with non-essential personnel, making radio communications impossible to hear, leading to confusion and mis-communications. Read the latest news account of how the command center operation was handled, and how it might relate to your own comm center operations.

An in-depth study of the Luzerne County (Penn.) 911 center concluded that it has fewer than one-half the dispatchers it really needs, and that water lines in the center are routed directly over electrical equipment that would be shorted out by any water leaks. The study was performed over 16 months by L. Robert Kimball & Associates, and was intended to assist the center in gaining national certification. The consultant’s found the center needs 17 more employees, or four additional dispatchers and one more supervisor per shift, compared to the three dispatchers on-duty now. The study also found that a recently-installed humidification system routes water drain pipes directly over electrical equipment, creating a hazard, and that workstations are too small for the required number of computer monitors.