A shortage of radio frequencies? What shortage? A just-completed federal study of available spectrum for wireless broadband found over 2,200 MHz of frequencies that could be repurposed, and 500 MHz that could be used within five years. The study by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) focused on the range of 225 MHz to 4400 MHz, which the agency believes offers sufficient bandwidth at the low end, and is of sufficient interest to commercial providers at the high end. The bands studied include several used by public safety agencies—the VHF/UHF television allocation, 406-420 MHz and the D Block of 700 MHz frequencies. The NTIA report sets out an elaborate, multi-agency timetable for reallocating the frequencies, focusing on regulatory, technical and policy issues. Download (pdf) the full report here.

Facing extremely high overage charges on their Airwave radio system, police officials in Britain have told officers to send text messages for routine incidents instead of voice radio transmissions. The instructions have generated criticism from former police commanders, who say discouraging officers from using voice radio could compromise safety. Airwave is a private company that operates a TETRA-based radio network in the country, and sells time on the system to law enforcement agencies. Officers carry a personal “terminal” that resembles a cellular phone handset, and it offers both voice, text and other features. According to press accounts, police officials will not confirm their costs to use the system or the overage charges. However sources say once an agency reaches its contractual limit, Airwave is charging over $3.20 per second for voice radio transmissions. On the other hand, it costs just a few cents to transmit 1,000 text messages. Police have programmed the terminals to transmit 16 pre-determined text messages by using buttons on the handset, including meal break, issuing a warrant, making an arrest and returning to station. According to Home Office officials, local police departments are given an annual budget for radio operations, and the agencies decide how to allocate the money. A long story in the Daily Mail newspaper notes that Airwave posted a profit last year, and the company’s president lives in an expensive home. Read more here.

The town of Belmont (Mass.) has suspended five dispatchers and a police officer over allegations revealed earlier this year that they falsified their EMT recertification records. The town employees are among 200 dispatchers in the state who claimed to have taken EMT refresher courses since 2006, but who did not. Dispatchers Thomas O’Brien, Michael Tortola, Daniel Walsh and Christopher Murphy, along with supervisor Ed Pendergast received unpaid suspensions of 30 to 45 days. They must also pay back the extra pay they received from the town for being an EMT. Town officials say the suspensions will be scheduled so comm center coverage is still maintained. One dispatcher has already taken the state-required refresher course, and the others are arranging to take them. Police chief Richard McLaughlin said each dispatcher admitted their misconduct and accepted the punishment. “Our goal was to complete the process and get it behind us, so we can all move forward,” he said. Read more here.

In the aftermath of two separate incidents that ended in deaths, a veteran Iowa dispatcher has resigned after an officer shooting, and a Massachusetts dispatcher may have been fired for mishandling a 911 call. Boone County (Iowa) dispatcher Jeanie Driscoll had been with the agency 16 years when she fielded a 911 call last month about a knife-wielding man in a grocery store. She asked the caller, “Is there was any way you can get to him” to obtain a description. The man was later confronted by police and fatally shot when he didn’t drop the knife. The logging tape of Driscoll’s question sparked criticism from the local press, who questioned the wisdom of asking a 911 caller to move closer to an armed suspect. The incident also revealed that Driscoll had been never taken the state-required 40-hour dispatcher academy, but had been grandfathered in in 1998, four years after she was hired. Chief Deputy Gregg Elsberry said her experience will be missed, but declined to say if she was asked to resign or left on her own. In the second incident, the fate of Barnstable County (Mass.) dispatcher Rhonda Colburn is unknown after she failed to provide EMD instructions to the fiancé of a woman who choked on a marshmallow while intoxicated. Sheriff James Cummings has refused to confirm Colburn’s participation, if she was disciplined or even if she still works at the agency. During the 12-minute 911 call, there were several periods of at least two minutes when the dispatcher said nothing while the fiancé asked for help. A missing street sign may have contributed to a delayed response to the patient’s home, and when EMS units arrived, they could not revive the patient. The fiancé is now urging the district attorney to criminally charge the dispatcher. Update: As of Nov. 19th, Sheriff Cummings continues to refuse media requests for information about Colburn and any disciplinary action against her.

An Athens County (Ohio) 911 dispatcher who was fired in 2005 for being intoxicated on-duty, and whose case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, has accepted a plea agreement after being charged with carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated. Warren Ferguson, 45, was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $250 on a lesser weapon transportation charge, with the jail time suspended if he completes an alcohol abuse program. He was involved in one of the longest-running dispatcher termination disputes in the country. He allegedly appeared intoxicated for a 2005 union meeting and made sexually-related comments to a fellow dispatcher. The county fired him, but an arbitrator ruled he was a “troubled employee” who suffered from emotional distress related to his wife’s medical condition. The arbitrator ordered the county to re-hire him, but the county decided to appeal in 2006, taking it through a local and state court (pdf), a state appeals court, and finally the state Supreme Court (pdf). All the courts upheld the arbitrator’s order to rehire Ferguson, and the county allowed him to return to work in 2008. Last September Ferguson was allegedly intoxicated by inside his car at a local fair, and a sheriff’s deputy located a .40-cal. pistol inside the car and arrested Ferguson. He pleaded not guilty and resigned his dispatcher position weeks later. Now he’s accepted a plea agreement, ending his notoriety.

When a Puyallup (Wash.) woman heard someone break down the back door of her home mid-morning, she ran upstairs, hid in a closet and dialed 911. When that call rang in, Puyallup PD dispatcher Dorene Strange answered. The logging tape of the eight-minute call documents the terror of Carolyn Snyder as she whispters into the phone, and the expertise of Strange as she took information, reassured Snyder and relayed information to police units who arrived to capture two burglary suspects. The call almost sounds like the tape has been fast-forwarded—Strange is asking specific questions, providing feedback to Synder, typing and talking to her comm center partner in rapid-fire fashion. As officers arrive, Strange asks another round of questions to pinpoint Synder’s location and if she still hears anything. Finally, Strange tells Synder that officers have detained someone, and then stays on the line praising Synder as officers search and secure the house. The two woman met the next day at the police department, emotionally hugged, and credited each other with the positive outcome. Read the story here, and watch the reunion video after the break. read more

Butler County (Ohio) commissioners are debating a plan to begin charging user agencies for the use of its $36 million 800 MHz trunked radio system, after annual maintenance funding from sales tax revenues has dried up. County commissioners voted to build the 800 MHz trunked radio system in 2007, and they also voted to fund the system from a one-quarter percent increase in sales tax revenues, instead of charging local agencies. But as the economy began to turn downward in 2007, sales tax revenues also declined, dropping eight percent from 2008 to 2009. Feeling the pinch, the county began deferring some of the $1.2 million in annual maintenance payments to Motorola. Now the county owes Motorola $2.1 million, which the county doesn’t have, forcing county commissioners to consider billing local agencies. Read more about the funding problems here.

Officials in Boone County (Iowa) have revealed that a veteran dispatcher who mishandled a 911 call that ended with an officer-involved shooting never received the state-required training because she was hired before the training became mandatory. Three other dispatchers among the center’s 13 employees have also not received the training, which the state considers the basic minimum necessary to perform the job. Dispatcher Jeanie Driscoll fielded a 911 call from a grocery store employee who reported a man walking the aisles with a knife, threatening customers and trashing merchandise. At one point Driscoll asked the caller, “Since you don’t have visual on this guy, is there any way you can get to him?” Critics said that request may have put the caller in jeopardy from the suspect. Driscoll joined the comm center in 1994, and four years later the state established a 16-hour class of required training. However, the requirement only applied to newly-hired dispatchers, not existing employees. Sheriff Ron Fehr said two dispatchers, including Driscoll, were grandfathered in under the training law, and two others were hired last month and have yet to take the training. Read more about the incident and the training questions here.

A working group of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has published a report detailing the intracacies of consolidating public safety communications centers, and identifying issues that have been already been obvious. The Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council (CSRIC) was formed in early 2009 and tasked with providing recommendations on”optimal security, reliability and interoperability of communications systems, including telecommunications, media and public safety communications.” Among the group’s findings on consolidation projects were that a trusted champion must lead the project, that buy-in is the second most important challenge, that legislation may be required to create sustainable funding, and that “personnel issues are difficult and troubling…and require a great deal of thought at the policy level early on.” Despite the challenges, consolidation can produce long-term cost efficiences, the group concluded, and will result in a “better trained and more focused work force, increasing the level of public safety.” Download (pdf) the full report here, and also a slide presentation about the report here.

Police and EMS officials in Cleveland (Ohio) are investigating how a 911 call from an 86 year-old man was handled, including why it took 13 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. George Langford was unconscious when medics arrived, and could not be revived. Officials say his 911 call was answered promptly by a police dispatcher, who determined he had a medical problem, and transferred him to an EMS dispatcher. However, officials say all the EMS dispatchers were busy, and the call wasn’t immediately answered, but instead reached a recording. Langford either hung up or went unconscious, so the police dispatcher explained the problem to his EMS colleague. There was no answer on a call-back, and so an ambulance was dispatched. Officials acknowledge the EMS unit was at a distance, and had to break down Langford’s door upon arrival, all adding to the response time. EMS commmissioner Ed Eckart said, “Certainly in this case, we didn’t meet the standard, but we do meet that standard 78 percent of the time,” Eckart said. Read more about the incident here.

A Barnstable County (Mass.) dispatcher’s handling of a 911 call reporting a choking victim was “outrageous,” according to a national expert, and the dispatcher’s near silence during the call was “dispatcher abandonment.” Brent McFarland dialed 911 last month when he found his fiancée choking on a marshmallow, but received little advice during the 12-minute call. During three periods of nearly two minutes each, the dispatcher said nothing, and didn’t respond to McFarland’s pleas for help. His fiancée Kate died at the hospital after EMS units were delayed, possibly by confusion over McFarland’s house address. Dr. Jeff Clawson, considered the father of emergency medical dispatch (EMD), told a reporter he was “dumbfounded” by the dispatcher’s unresponsiveness in the face of a completely correctable emergency. “A child could’ve help that man,” he said. County officials have been tight-lipped about the incident, but did say dispatchers are trained in EMD through an Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) program. Read more about the incident and listen to the 911 call here. Update: The local newspaper obtained the county’s dispatcher training manual, and the reporter wrote that the dispatcher did not follow many of the procedures in the manual, including EMD procedures. The county sheriff would not say if the unnamed dispatcher who answered the call has been fired or otherwise disciplined. McFarland called for the dispatcher to be charged criminally for not giving medical instructions. Update 2: On Dec. 31, 2010 county sheriff James Cummings wrote Mashpee selectmen to say dispatcher Rhonda Colburn, who handled the incident, resigned Dec. 27th. Colburn was an 11-year veteran with the rank of sergeant. Cummings said Colburn resigned before a disciplinary board was convened to hear the results of an investigation into the incident. Read more here. read more

The 13 largest state-level public safety agencies in California have completed a first-ever review of radio communications, and have issued a 70-page plan to eventually bring integrated voice and data services throughout the state. The 70-page plan focuses on technical issues such as narrowbanding and interoperability, but also consolidation, governance and the future. It lists the various agency systems and rates their capabilities—the corrections agency is in the “high-risk” category, while the Highway Patrol and Military Department are rated “good.” No agency is rated in the “ideal” category for communications. The report concludes that the best method of improving state-level public safety radio is to adopt a “system of systems” approach, which would feature a lower cost than other options, yet meet nearly all the goals. One of the many goals is to reduce the number of systems used by the state by, “increasing the collaboration between agencies and consolidating the disparate radio infrastructures.” Lastly, the plan sets a 10-year roadmap that begins with establishing improved governance and ending with deployment of shared radio systems. Download (pdf, 28 Mb) the entire plan here.

Law enforcement officials in North Carolina are investigating the disappearance of a 10 year-old girl from her home, and the 911 call that her father made to report he had found a ransom note after an arson fire in the family’s backyard. Zahra Baker had bone cancer and used hearing aids. Adam Baker told a Hickory police dispatcher that he believed the fire in his backyard was a diversion while the kidnappers entered the house, went upstairs and abducted his daughter. But police doubt the parents’ story that they last saw Zahra 12 hours before the incident, and that neither thought to check on her after the fire or when the ransom note was found. Read more and listen to the 911 logging tape here.

A report by Chicago’s oversight agency has concluded that officials of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) falsified documents related to the 2005 purchase of $23 million of radio gear, allowing Motorola to obtain the contract without competitive bids. The report was obtained by the Chicago Tribune, and shows that Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found false information in the justification for allowing the sole-source bid award. Specifically, the OEMC had stated the city already had a $2 million investment in Motorola gear, when in fact the total was just $350,000 at the time. Based on the false statements, the city’s Sole Source Review Board approved the purchase. Ferguson’s report also cited the OEMC’s, “long-running failure to effectively manage the procurement and contract process presents a significant risk to the city’s emergency preparedness, fiscal security and grant compliance.” Ron Huberman, who headed the OEMC at the time, now heads the city’s school district, and told the newspaper he was at the agency for only 13 months. “I regret that some of this misconduct occurred during my tenure,” he told a reporter. Read more about the report here.

When the wife of an 89 year-old man dialed 911 for help in Odessa (Fla.), she expected a Code 3 ambulance. Instead, a Hillsborough County dispatcher evaluated the call, determined it was a non-emergency, and offered to send a BLS ambulance to the couple’s home, a one-hour trip. But an angry neighbor grabbed the phone, told the dispatcher she would transport Ken Ervin to the hospital, and then hung up. Ervin died the next day from an aortic aneurysm. The family hasn’t filed a formal complaint, county officials say, but they have raised questions about why an ALS ambulance wasn’t immediately dispatched for Ervin. Meg Plyant, Ervin’s daughter, said the dispatcher asked too many questions and incorrectly diagnosed Ervin’s problem. “My dad was hollering in pain,” she recalled. “He was doubled over, screaming.” County Fire-Rescue spokesperson Ray Yeakley told a reporter that stomach ailments typically aren’t life-threatening. But he admitted, “This turned out to be something much more severe.” Yeakley didn’t mention it, but the county’s dispatchers use the Medical Priority Dispatch System to evaluate and screen medically-related 911 calls. Read more about the incident here.