In a press conference yesterday New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg announced completion of major improvements to the city’s 911 and public safety radio systems, and said the city is now at work on a back-up facility for the communications center to ensure total reliability. “We now have all of the City’s emergency response agencies in one place and on the same system,” Bloomberg told reporters, “with state-of-the-art technology that can handle the large number of calls we see during big emergencies,” Bloomberg said. He appeared at the city’s MetroTech Center public safety answering point (PSAP) to say that 911 calls are now answered within 10 seconds 98 percent of the time, and the VESTA telephone system has been tested to handle up to 50,000 calls per hour, about 40 times the normal volume. The city began the latest upgrade project in 2004 after reviewing operations during the September 11th terrorist attacks. The back-up center in the Bronx should be completed in 2015, Bloomberg said, and will be able to fully support dispatching functions. Download (pdf) the city’s press release on the announcement, and watch a video of the press conference (click in right column). read more

The Michigan Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for next week on the issue of governmental immunity for two Detroit dispatchers who handled 911 calls in 2006 from a five year-old boy reporting his mother was unconscious. Dispatchers Sherry Nichols and Terri Sutton believed the boy was making prank calls, and did not dispatch EMS units to his apartment. In fact, Robert Turner’s mother lay unconscious for over 3½ hours until Sutton sent a police officer to scold the boy for making a second prank call. The officer discovered Sherrill Turner dead on the floor. Turner’s family sued the dispatchers for negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress. However, both dispatchers have claimed immunity under Michigan civil law. A lower court denied their claim of immunity and ordered the civil trial to proceed. Now, both defendants have appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, which has scheduled oral arguments for next Wednesday. Download (pdf) the written arguments submitted to the court on the issue of immunity. read more

The Grady County (Okla.) sheriff’s dispatcher who fielded a 911 call from a woman reporting burglars at her rural home offered some serious advice: “You have to do what you have to do to protect your baby.” During that call on New Year’s Eve, dispatcher Diane Graham told 18 year-old Sarah McKinley that she couldn’t offer advice on whether she could shoot the man who was pounding on her door. At the time, McKinley was holding a shotgun and pistol after barricading the door to her trailer with a couch. However, as Graham dispatched deputies to the scene, she made it clear to McKinley that she could protect herself if the suspect threatened her in any way. The entire 911 call with McKinley lasted 21 minutes, part of it after Graham transferred the call to the Blanchard police department, hoping their officers were closer to the incident. The suspect eventually broke into the house and McKinley fatally shot him, an event caught on the call logging tape. A second suspect fled but later turned himself in and was charged with murder. McKinley and her baby were unhurt. The incident has sparked worldwide attention, both for the incident’s drama, but also over using deadly force to protect yourself at home. Read more here, and watch a news interview with Graham after the break. read more

The family of a missing Hot Springs Village (Ark.) police dispatcher say they believe a body found on New Year’s Eve is that of Dawna Natzke, 46, but police are waiting for crime lab tests before making a formal announcement. Natzke left a Christmas party on Dec. 21st with her boyfriend and then went home. The boyfriend, 46 year-old Kevin Duck, has told police he went to sleep while Natzke was still up. When he awoke the next morning, Natzke was gone, he said. She was reported missing the next day when she did not appear for work at the police department. Police have not named anyone a suspect or person-of-interest in the case. Natzke’s car was found earlier, on Christmas Eve day in the Oauchita National Forest, burned and charred. No sign of Natzke was found at the fire scene. Then volunteer searchers located a body last Saturday about 5½ miles from the location of the car. Police say foul play is suspected in the death of that person, but won’t confirm the identity of the victim until state crime lab tests are completed. Update: This afternoon Natzke’s sister Vicky Hegyi confirmed that police had visited the family, and told them the body has been positively identified as Dawna Natzke. One of Natzke’s friends told the Associated Press that a text message she received from Natzke’s phone seems suspicious.

Police have released a haunting 42-second logging tape of a 911 call, with whispers from a house where five Texas family members were found shot to death, and a six person apparently committed suicide. Investigators for the Grapevine Police Department said the dispatcher was unable to hear the man’s words, but promptly dispatched officers to investigate the hang-up call. When patrol units arrived, they noticed several bloody bodies through a window, broke in and discovered the murder scene. Police say the suspect, Azizolah Yazdanpanah, 56, was the estranged husband of one of the female victims. He arrived at a family Christmas gathering dressed as Santa Claus, and was armed with two semi-auto pistols. Police officials say the police response was not delayed by the dispatcher’s inability to hear the suspect saying in a very low voice, “Help me. Help me.” At another point on the tape, a voice can be heard whispering, “I’m shooting, I’m shooting.” Police say the whispers were only audible while carefully listening to an enhanced version of the logging tape played at a higher volume. Listen to the 911 call tape here to determine what you can hear.

Dispatchers at the Albuquerque (NM) Police Department answered a 911 call reporting the abuse of two young girls, and have since taken up a collection to make sure the children have clothes, toys and other things they need to recover.

Cedar Rapids (Iowa) dispatchers Kelliann Dykstra and Andrew Huff helped save the life of an 18 month-old baby who wasn’t breathing by giving the mother medical instructions. Listen to the 911 call here.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has named Henning Schulzrinne as the agency’s chief technology officer, responsible for guiding the commission through engineering and other technical issues. Schulzrinne is a professor at Columbia University (NY) and has been an FCC Engineering Fellow since 2010. Beyond his general expertise in electrical engineering, he specializes in voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) issues, and over the past 10 years has researched its use for a Next Generation 911 (NG911) network. In particular, he has worked on the issue of including location information into VoIP data streams to allow ALI data to be streamed along with 911 voice, and co-authored a recent cost study of NG911. He has also consulted with planning teams for a public safety wireless network. FCC chair Julius Genachowski said in a press release, “With the appointment of Henning—a world-class technologist—we extend our commitment to technology excellence at the FCC and to strong engagement with outside technology experts.” Schulzrinne has a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories and is a former member of the Internet Architecture Board, where he helped develop key protocols for VoIP.

A Concord (NH) man is alive and recovering after a heart attack, thanks to a team of citizens and public safety personnel who worked quickly and efficiently to perform CPR on him and get him hospital care. Jim Riley, 51, collapsed while on a roofing job, and co-worker Lynn Shull dialed 911 for help. Dispatcher Joyce Jastrem answered the call and gave Shull CPR instructions. Shortly after, passersby Brett Kimball and Dave Ellwell stopped and took over the CPR, and within minutes the Alton Fire Department arrived to defibrillate Riley and transport him to the hospital. Riley had suffered a 100 percent artery blockage, but fully recovered. On Dec. 1st the state’s Bureau of Emergency  Communications held a reunion for all the participants. Read a news account here, and the press release Bureau of Emergency Communications issued after the break. read more

In the last-minute push to adopt legislation that would extend payroll tax savings for Americans, Congress has removed provisions that would have affected spectrum intended to create a nationwide wireless network. On Saturday the Senate passed a bill to extend a so-called “tax holiday” for 16 million Americans, but only after it was stripped of two sections pertaining to spectrum management. The first section removed was related to TV broadcast spectrum, and the other section would have assigned certain spectrum to public safety for a wireless network. The omission was a disappointing blow to public safety groups, which have lobbied Congress for action since a failed spectrum auction in 2008. However, this morning, the House voted voted down the Senate version of the tax holiday bill, and sent the bill to committee for reconciliation, a process that might result in a final bill within two weeks. It’s not clear if the spectrum provisions would be reinserted into the bill during committee consideration.

The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that pre-paid cellular phone subscribers are subject to the state’s monthly 911 surcharge, upholding a lower court decision that carrier T-Mobile owes the state $1.9 million in back fees. Previously, T-Mobile was paying the state a fee that it computed from the average monthly use of pre-paid phones, not the number of phone lines. Pre-paid phone users purchase talk-time minutes in advance, and don’t receive a monthly bill like pre-paid customers. In its decision, the court said the legislature clearly intended all cellular phone subscribers to pay the 70¢ per-month surcharge, since pre-paid users have access to the same 911 services as post-paid subscribers. T-Mobile has the technical ability to bill its pre-paid subscribers for the fee, the court noted, since they already can bill them for 411 calls and other services. Download (pdf) the Supreme Courts decision for more details.

In a show of openness about their operations during several confrontations with Occupy demonstrators, the Oakland (Calif.) police department has posted on-line a large collection of radio logging tapes and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) print-outs documenting dispatch operations. The department also posted several video clips taken by police videographers when police evicted the demonstrators from a downtown park during October and November, along with police planning and mutual aid documents. Examined together, the tapes and CAD documents provide a peek into the handling of a large-scale operation by dispatchers, which might include scores or hundreds of officers from outside agencies, the use of tactical radio channels and quickly changing events. On the tapes of the 800 MHz trunked radio system, traffic is evenly paced and deliberate, as the voices are mostly commanders, supervisors and specialized units, not individual officers. The CAD reports mostly document the radio traffic, but also a few updates from other sources, including plainclothes officers reporting via cellular phones. Surf this Web page for links to the collection of radio logging tapes and CAD print-outs.

As the year-end holidays approach and the nation slows down to celebrate, public safety groups remain in high gear, warning of Congressional legislation affecting spectrum allocations. Today the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) asked its members to write members of Congress to express opposition to provisions of H.R. 3630, a bill passed by the house yesterday that includes a section for public safety to give back a previous allocation of spectrum in the 700 MHz band used for in-field data transmission. The group also expressed its support for the provisions in that same bill that allocate spectrum for a nationwide, public safety wireless network, which has long been sought by public safety agencies. The previous day the Public Safety Alliance (PSA) issued a press release with similar sentiments, saying the bill “takes two steps forward,” but then “takes three steps back” with its two spectrum provisions. Read the groups’ statements after the break. read more

A House of Representatives sub-committee has approved an amendment to provide matching grants to local agencies for Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG911) systems, and upgrades to Phase II 911 equipment. The Next Generation 9-1-1 Advancement Act (H.R. 2629) would authorize up to $250 million in funding through 2017. It was introduced last July by Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.). The bill would also reauthorized funding for a federal NG911 coordination office, limit state-collected 911 surcharges to 911 projects, and require studies on multi-line telephone systems, liability protection for 911 agencies, long-term 911 system funding, and establishing a “do not call” registry for public safety answering points (PSAP). The bill was approved by the House sub-committee on Communications and Technology on an The National Emergency Number Association (NENA) praised passage of the bill out of committee, saying it was as important as other legislation now being considered to create a nationwide public safety wireless network. In a press release, NENA president Rick Galway said, “Alongside the other public safety measures included in both the majority and minority bills, now is clearly the right time for Congress to take up NG9-1-1 legislation.” He noted that NG911 would be particularly useful to those with hearing or speech disabilities. Download (pdf) a copy of the proposed amendment here. read more

A Toronto (Ont.) newspaper who battled the city for access to fire department response time statistics has revealed that each step of handling an emergency incident exceeds recognized standards, leading to arrival times of eight minutes after a 911 call is placed. In a story on Tuesday, The Star newspaper said it takes 30 seconds on average to transfer a 911 to the fire department, while the standard is 15 seconds or less. Fire unit notification time averages 100 seconds, while the standard set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is 60 seconds. Turn-out time takes 185 seconds, compared to the standard of 80 seconds. Travel time is the only segment that closely approaches the standard—4½ minutes compared to four minutes for the standard. The newspaper requested the data gathered by an outside consultant just after it was published in 2009, and the city responded with a heavily-redacted document. The newspaper appealed the city’s claim of confidentiality, and eventually a provincial commission ordered the report released. Read more about the report here, and also a rebuttal to some of the newspaper’s conclusions here.