An off-hand remark by a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) driver about a motorist has led to an inquiry, officials say, although they won’t name the dispatcher or provide any details. FHP officials did release logging tapes of 911 calls that reported an erratic driver on the I-295 Buckman Bridge near Jacksonville in February. Several persons called to report the car, which moments later swerved into an SUV, which flipped off the bridge into the water. The driver of the vehicle died. At one point, an FHP dispatcher was talking to a Jacksonville County sheriff’s dispatcher, and stated, “I wish that guy would go home.” In fact, a witness followed the Honda driver as it continued across the bridge to the driver’s home. However, it isn’t clear from the tape if the FHP dispatcher was referring to the suspect driver or the witness. Officials said their inquiry would look into the response time and to the dispatcher’s remark. Read more here, and listen to the logging tapes. [audio:http://mp3.911dispatch.com.s3.amazonaws.com/buckmanbridge_driver_911.mp3]

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has sent a massive report to Congress intended to spur legislation that would improve the nation’s access to broadband-level access to the Internet, but which also contains a wide range of recommendations on public safety that could lead to federal funding for NG911, a nation-wide wireless network and improved citizen alerting systems. The 376-page report goes well beyond its most obvious purpose of bringing high-speed Internet to rural, poor or other under-serviced areas of the country. The report delves into how the Internet could be used to improve the daily lives of Americans, including how emergencies are reported by the public, how public safety agencies communicate with each other and the public, and how these systems can be hardened to prevent outages. The report noted that nearly one-third of Americans have no broadband access, including 10 million children, and that many industries and businesses are hampered by lack of Internet access. The FCC issued six broad goals, with #5 being, “To ensure the safety of the American people, every first responder should have access to a nationwide, wireless, interoperable broadband public safety network.” The report noted the 9/11 Commission report of 2004 that noted lack of interoperabile communications among public safety agencies. “It remains a problem more than five years later,” the report states. read more

Welcome to the remodeled Web site for Dispatch Magazine On-Line! It was a little bumpy over the past few days, but now the site is running faster on a new server using new software, and the intent is the same—critical information to help you work better. The homepage looks different and is organized more efficiently. News stories and headlines are at the top so you can quickly find out what’s happening in the world of public safety dispatching. You can easily comment on the news stories and share them via e-mail or various social networking sites. The forum is still active and waiting for your exchanges with fellow dispatchers. Further down the homepage is an opinion poll and all sorts of useful links to other Web pages and sites. You can continue to follow major stories using RSS (the link is to the upper left of the page), and now you can find new stories announced on Twitter at dispatchmag. I’ll be remodeling other non-news pages over the coming weeks to further streamline the site. I hope you find the site easy to use and useful. Send me your feedback via e-mail.

According to several public safety groups, drivers in California won’t be able to use their cellular phones to dial 911 if the state gives final approval to new vehicle glazing standards intended to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Under the new regulations, by 2012 car manufacturers must provide front windshields on new cars that reflect more solar radiation, reducing the need to use air conditioning and, thereby, reducing how much fuel the car consumes. But the California Police Chiefs Association, California State Sheriffs Association, Crime Victims United of California and other groups claim the glass, which would have metallic coatings to comply with the regulations, will interfere with a variety of radio signals, including GPS units, cellular phones, garage door openers and parolee tracking devices. Not so, says the state’s Air Resources Board (ARB). The board says it’s tested a variety of radio devices from inside fully-shielded vehicles and found no change in radio reception. The board also notes that the regulation only applies to the front windshield by 2012, so there is plenty of “open space” for radio signals to reach devices inside the car. Read more about the objections here, and read Q&As from the ARB here (pdf).

The death of 43 year-old woman in her Spotsylvania County (Virg.) home last month has sparked an investigation of how the woman’s 911 call was handled, and how firefighters searched the house as she was still on the phone with a dispatcher. Sandy Hill was located 20 minutes after firefighters arrived, upstairs in the 1950s home that investigators say was a maze of doors and stairs. Hill could not open any windows to escape or get the attention of firefighters outside. The dispatcher kept her on the line and relayed location information to firefighters at the scene. “I’m going to die,” Hill told an unnamed county dispatcher at one point. County fire chief Chris Eudaily says smoke and the confusing layout of the home kept firefighters from quickly locating her. Two other occupants of the house escaped. Read more here, and listen to the radio radio traffic and 911 call.

Fire radio: here

Hill’s 911 call: here

When three men invaded his Norwalk (S. Calif.) home, a 7 year-old boy fled to a bathroom with his sister and dialed 911 for help, telling Los Angeles County Sheriff’s dispatcher Monique Patino that his parents were being threatened with a gun. Patino, who has two children of her own, skillfully handled the frightened boy, who told her, “Bring cops…a lot of them…and soldiers, too!” During the call, one of the suspects burst into the bathroom and grabbed the boy, who then said he had dialed 911. The suspects fled as deputies were enroute the home. The family, which hasn’t been named for their safety, visited the sheriff’s station the next day to meet with Patino and thank her. Read more and listen to the 911 call here, and watch a CBS video report here.

In a letter to Congress, a group of 35 public safety and consumer advocacy organizations has called out nine states who have diverted their 911 funds to other purposes, and has asked for more stringent sanctions to discourage states from draining money intended to support comm centers. The four-page letter was signed by NENA and APCO officials, and by several individual comm center officials, and was addressed to four members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The writers applauded past efforts by Congress to limit diversion of state 911 funds through withholding certain federal funding. But the letter said that Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin, “ignored Congressional intent and raided or diverted” their 911 funds. “We are calling on Congress to do more,” the letter said, including additional legislation that would withhold even more federal funds from offending states. The letter writers also asked Congress to revise the current FCC reporting procedures for monitoring state 911 raids to better identify offenders. Download (pdf) the full letter here.

A rookie San Diego region California Highway Patrol (CHP) dispatcher received a 911 call straight from the front pages—a man said the engine of his Toyota Prius was racing, and he couldn’t stop the vehicle traveling at 94 mph. The driver survived the scary 20-minute ride after a CHP arrived, told him over the patrol car’s loudspeaker to apply the emergency brake and put the car in neutral, the car slowed to 50 mph and the man pressed the engine shut-off button (Prius has no traditional key ignition). At a later press conference, the driver said he was afraid to perform two actions that would have quickly stopped the car: put the car in neutral (he was afraid the car would go into reverse), turn the car off (he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to steer the car). Instead, he waited for a slower speed. As his car stopped, it gently into the back of the CHP that had pulled in front of him to warn off other vehicles—the CHP officer never tried to slow the Prius down by braking in front of it. The incident highlights the need for runaway car advice: immediately tell the driver to put the car in neutral, apply the brake and carefully steer to a safe spot off the roadway. Alternatively, tell the driver to turn the car off via key or button, warning them they will lose some steering and brake assist.

Not only have the nation’s local cities, towns and counties created their own 911 systems, but they’re all based on non-standard and sometimes odd methods of addressing properties in their jurisdiction. Facing the possibility of a future integrated, national 911 network, a federal group is now working to create a standard way of assigning addresses to help public safety pinpoint incidents, and also improve mail delivery and other related activities. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) held a meeting last month to approve the final draft of the standards, comprising 605 pages of basic definitions and terminology, and an attempt to corral all the various addressing methods into a single, meaningful standard. It’s an amazing collection of the familiar and the arcane. Download (pdf) the full document here, and follow the committee’s work here.

Finalizing a plan to draw back to its core business, Ortivus AB (Sweden) announced that the sale of its North American public safety software operation to privately-held TriTech Software Systems is now complete. In turn, TriTech said that its new acquisition will be called TriTech Emergency Medical Systems. Ortivus is a 25 year-old company that markets computer-based patient monitoring and decision-making support systems. In 2001 Ortibus purchased Sweet Computer Services Inc., a seminal company in the public safety software industry that was founded in 1978 in Iowa. Sweet marketed a full range of software for EMS operations, primarily to ambulance companies. After the purchase, the Iowa division became Ortivus North America, and continued selling billing, CAD, AVL, mapping, personnel tracking and patient care reporting software. Last year Ortibus AB said it wanted to, “focus even more on development and sale of mobile decision support for healthcare,” and put the U.S. division up for sale. In Feb. 2010 TriTech agreed buy the division, reportedly for $11.5 million. TriTech markets a full range of software for law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies. Last month both companies recently received stockholder approval for the deal. In a statement today, TriTech president Chris Maloney called the purchase, “a significant step for TriTech in our strategy to accelerate growth in the EMS market and reaffirms our long-standing commitment to the industry.” TriTech has posted questions and answers about the deal here (pdf).

The Detroit (Mich.) police chief says he’s ordered an investigation into how an unnamed dispatcher handled a 911 from an 8 year-old child reporting that her mother and father had been shot inside their home. Chief Warren Evans released about one-half of the logging tape of the call, but a TV station obtained the full recording, which indicates the dispatcher was skeptical throughout of the child’s claims that her mother was bleeding and her father was dead. “I’m not totally comfortable with the demeanor of the dispatcher,” Evans told reporters, and said the response time was also in question. He did not disclose how long it took officers to reach the scene, or what type of incident the dispatcher entered—a crime or a prank call. On the 911 call the girl said her mother was breathing, however, she did not survive. The father was also killed. Police have identified a suspect and are also looking for a second person. The call ended abruptly without the dispatcher saying “Goodbye.” In 2006 Detroit dispatcher Sharon Nichols was fired for mishandling a 911 call from a 5 year-old boy reporting his mother was unconscious. Nichols believed it was a prank call. Last July an arbitrator ruled Nichols should be re-hired because of inconsistencies in how the city handled the discipline. Read more here, and listen to telephone call. here

The Salt Lake City (Utah) chapter of the American Red Cross held its annual Heroes banquet to honor those who saved a live during 2009, and Utah Highway Patrol dispatcher Kathy Jo Hall was one of the two recognized. Hall fielded a telephone call from a man whose boat had capsized on the Great Salt Lake during a wintry January day as he and a friend were duck hunting. Both men were in the freezing water while emergency units raced to find and rescue them. During the call, Hall made a personal connection with the man to let them know help was on the way, and kept him positive despite the pain from being in the water. Both men were rescued and recovered. Read a story here.

It was a single extraordinary 911 call to the Indian River (Fla.) Sheriff’s comm center, a man confessed to a long series of sexual assaults, but also told the dispatcher he was holding a gun and contemplating suicide. It was veteran dispatcher Pam Metzdorf who answered the call and, during a 15-minute conversation, talked humanely to Dennis Mitchell, telling him, “You need to make this the best you can,” and eventually convincing him to put down the gun and walk outside to deputies. Towards the end of the call, Metzdorf was able to elicit a promise from Mitchell that he would not shoot himself—”I have been here to help you and I want you to promise me that,” she told him. Mitchell promised her. Later, Metzdorf said it felt strange to have saved the life of a suspect, but sheriff Deryl Loar praised her effort. Watch a video report here, and listen to the remarkable telephone call. here

A Pottawattamie County (Iowa) EOC dispatcher who failed to confirm the exact location of a Council Bluffs grocery store entered the wrong address, and sent EMS units to another branch of the chain for an unconscious man who was later declared dead at a hospital. The unnamed dispatcher has been disciplined, said EOC director Andrea Schaffer, but she didn’t describe the discipline. According to Schaffer, the caller told the dispatcher, “It’s the No Frills (grocery) on Valley View Drive.” The dispatcher then did not ask for a specific address, but asked, “OK, what’s going on?” Fire and EMS units were then dispatched to the only other No Frills in the city, about four miles away. At some point the dispatcher realized the error and sent units to the correct location, and they arrived within two minutes, Schaffer said. The family believes the 32 year-old victim would not have survived even with a prompt response, but they hope the incident sparks corrections to prevent any future response delays. Read more here.

Three 911 calls made by a New York City woman may reveal why Gov. David Patterson decided not to run for re-election, and raise questions about how dispatchers handle calls involving politicians. Sherr-una Booker dialed 911 to report that boyfriend David Johnson had assaulted her. She mentioned to the dispatcher that Johnson “works for the governor,” but that information wasn’t relayed to officers who eventually responded and took a report. Had the officers known of Johnson’s employment, they would have been required to notify a supervisor of the incident. The state’s attorney general is now investigating if Gov. Patterson and State Police Sup. Harry Corbitt improperly contacted Booker in an attempt to have her withdraw her assault complaint. The incident raises a sticky issue for dispatchers—in this case NYPD dispatchers are not required to make the same notification as officers. It’s not clear if the calltaker knew of the reporting policy and deliberately decided not to include the information for the officers so the governor’s aide wouldn’t get into legal trouble, or didn’t realize the employment information was important to include.