APCO has completed a study of Phase II wireless E911 accuracy, finding that on a local basis, cellular carriers aren’t meeting the FCC’s accuracy requirements up to 80% of the time. APCO has released the report to the participating agencies and certain media outlets before its general release in May. The FCC allows carriers to compute their Phase II accuracy over a wide area, in some cases an entire state, to meet the commission’s accuracy requirements. However, when tallied for a smaller geographic area, APCO’s test results show that carriers aren’t even close to meeting the accuracy requirement. Read more here and here. Update: The study was posted on-line in mid-May, and you can download (pdf) it here.

During a remarkable FCC open meeting on Wednesday that was delayed by almost 10 hours, the commissioners delayed any major decisions on the upcoming 700 MHz auction, and any consideration of the various proposals (Cyren Call, Frontline, FCC, etc.) on how the freed-up 700 MHz spectrum might be used by public safety. In an unprecedented twist, the 10:30 a.m. meeting didn’t convene until 7 p.m., apparently because of disagreements among the commissioners and last-minute deal-making. The commissioners did unanimously vote to extend the public comment period for the 700 MHz band proposals to allow more input. Download (pdf) the press release on the meeting results here, or the entire Report and Order here.

The governing boards of NENA, APCO and NASNA have issued a resolution on the debate occurring in some state over collecting 911 surcharges from pre-paid cellular carriers. The groups said the debates, “take time and resources from all the involved parties and promote continued uncertainty and animosity.” They state that pre-paid wireless carriers, “should contribute on an equitable basis to funding 9-1-1 emergency services.” Download (pdf) the entire resolution here.

A consortium of dispatchers in three states honored personnel at the Frederick County (Md.) Emergency Communications Center eariler this month during a banquet event. The Tri-State Telecommunicators Consortium gave out the awards in connection with National Public Safety Telecommunicator Week. Read about the awards here.

Having paid $177.30 for a printed copy of the 528-page report generated by a Grays Harbor (Wash.) sub-committee on the Beverly Johnson missing person incident, I am reviewing it for communications-related material. The report includes CAD records, policies and procedures, interviews, maps, police reports, logging tape transcriptions and other materials. I’ll eventually report on it in the printed edition, and will get parts of it posted here on the Web site.

The town of Great Barrington (Mass., pop. 7,500) is having the classic debate among its selectmen and residents over a plan to move dispatching to the county. Right now the department has two patrol officers working at most times, and an officer working the dispatch position. Selectmen want to move dispatching to Berkshire County, and move the dispatch officer back to the streets. But during a recent town hall meeting, officers and citizens were showed their displeasure over the plan, saying an earlier non-binding referendum showed residents want to keep dispatching services at the police department. Read about the debate here.

Follow this: an Aurora (Ill.) burglary suspect was confronted by the homeowner and shot. The suspect feld, but ended up in a Chicago hospital later in the day, being questioned by two Chicago police officers about his injuries. Coincidentally, another Aurora resident was in the hospital and overheard the conversation between the officers and wounded man. So…the man drives the 40 miles back to Aurora, and enroute hears a news report on the radio about the burglary and shooting. Having heard that the patient lived in Aurora, he made the connection, called Aurora police, who contacted CPD, who tracked down the suspect after he had been treated and released. Trust that next caller!

The office of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is being credited with brokering a deal between cellular carrier Verizon, environmental groups and the state over providing cellular coverage along a section of Interstate 87 that runs 47 miles through the Adirondack Park wilderness. Right now, the region is blacked out for cellular coverage. Verizon wanted to build towers to provide coverage, but five environmental groups objected to tall antenna towers or a large number of shorter towers. In between were several victims who suffered medical or other problems while driving through the area, and who couldn’t dial 911 for help. Now the groups have agreed to 11 tower sites, and the groups will work to make them blend in as much as possible, either by making them shorter or disguising them. Read more here.

During Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) speech in New Hampshire on Wednesday formally announcing his candidacy for president, he briefly mentioned public safety communications. “We must also prepare, far better than we have, to respond quickly and effectively to another terrorist attack or natural calamity. When Americans confront a catastrophe, natural or man-made, they have a right to expect basic competence from their government. They won’t accept that firemen and policemen are unable to communicate with each other in an emergency because they don’t have the same radio frequency. They won’t accept government’s failure to deliver bottled water to dehydrated babies or rescue the infirm from a hospital with no electricity. They won’t accept substandard care and indifference for wounded veterans. That’s not good enough for America. And when I’m President, it won’t be good enough for me.”

Kudos to Adams County (Colo.) 911 dispatcher Shauna Heywood-Allyn and 9 year-old Courtney Babcock, who teamed up to help the child’s stepfather who suffered a seizure last November. Courtney was presented with a “911 Hero” award recently during ceremonies at a North Metro Fire District station, where Heywood-Allyn said she was probably more nervous than Courtney during the call. Read about the two meeting here.

Hampshire County (WV) and the state police are debating the county’s plan to pull out of a joint public safety comm center after nine years, and to form their own comm center. The two jurisdictions share funding of the center, but pay the salaries of their own dispatchers. The county complains that state police supervision of the center isn’t working out, and that county agencies are complaining about service. Read more about how consolidation might not be a solution here.

A cellular 911 routing and address mix-up left a 7-year-old Kyle (Tex.) child dead after he was struck by a bullet while he was jumping on a trampoline in his backyard. The extraordinary set of events began when the child’s parents noticed him injured. They later learned a neighbor had been target shooting and had wounded their son in the back. The parents dialed 911 from a cellular, and the call went to a tower that routed the call to the adjacent county. A sheriff’s dispatcher transferred the call to the local police, who handles EMS calls. The dispatcher there gave the parents CPR instructions, and relayed address information to the fire department back in the correct county. But then there were even more address glitches. Read the full story here.

The FCC has sided with the city of Rockland (NY) in a dispute the town was having with Sprint Nextel of 800 MHz rebanding. The city operates a single-channel pair on 800 MHz for mobile data, and their license makes them secondary to adjacent channel licensees, since Rockland is using offset frequencies. Sprint Nextel said they weren’t obligated to retune the system since it’s secondary, the city said it was, and they couldn’t reach a negotiated or mediated agreement. Now the FCC said its rebanding rules do include such a secondary frequency situation, that Sprint Nextel must pay for rebanding, and told the Transition Administrator to convene a meeting to negotiate a resolution.

A Calhoun County (Mich.) judge dropped charges against a Battle Creek dispatcher for filing a false report of a sexual assault in 2005, but she was then re-arrested in an elevator as she was leaving the justice center with her attorney. Sonte Everson, 42, was originally charged with lying to investigators when she claimed her boyfriend-police officer had raped her in 2004. She has been free on bail ever since and was scheduled to go to trial this week. However, the judge dismissed the charges, agreeing with the defense attorney that the prosecutor had not filed sufficient evidence to hold Everson for trial. Read more here.

Dispatchers at the Milford (Conn.) 911 center have created a Web site especially for children to educate them about 911. The site is supported by the union that represents the dispatchers, and includes various games that engage the children. Surf the Web site here.