by The Sage
I told you that something was happening in NYC. And right after TruePosition received a CTIA award for technical excellence-poof!---Michael Amarosa, the tech guru of NYPD, jumped to TruePosition to become their v-p for public affairs. Also, no doubt, to attract new customers for its wireless location technology.
Dear Sage,
With all the resistance to hilltop antennas, do you have any solutions to
obtaining space to put new radio equipment?
Topped Out
Dear Topped,
Well, I have two sources of good news for you. First, it'll cost you only
$98,000 for a ticket on a sub-orbital trip on a new privately-operated space
ship. And I'm reminded by that Szerlag guy that NASA's Bantam project plans
to launch 400-pound satellites for a mere $1.5 million, versus the current
$12 million. Szerlag figures that out to about $3,750 per pound, and says
a 10-pound radio repeater could be launched for just $37,500! "Not
bad for countywide coverage," he notes.
Sage
Guts: My best CLETS buddies in California tell me the San Rafael police teletyped a warning of the scam artist who calls, explains he's from the telephone company, "Can you transfer me to 900?", yadda-yadda-yadda. The teletype added that SRPD received some of two of these calls, then MCI security called to inquire about two calls-one 160 minutes and the other 158 long!-to the Republic of Yemen. Yikes! They've were tagged!
Dear Sage,
Where do you think public safety frequencies will head next? I mean, they
started at 42 MHz, then 155 MHz, then 460 MHz and then 800?
Upward Bound
Dear Upward,
I see more consolidation and less migration in the next few years. The FCC
is on the right track-split the spectrum into smaller pieces and put related
services next to one another. One solution I haven't considered is using
marine frequencies for police operations, like they're doing in Trumbull
County (Ohio). They're apparently trying to hop, skip and jump away from
crooks using scanners for their undercover operations, even though the local
scanner hobbyists are listening to every word!
Sage
Alert: You're advised to avoid the S.S. Sinko, sailing from the docks of Newport Beach (Calif.) to celebrate the California NENA chapter meeting this month. Frankly, if this Pacific Bell-sponsored baby goes down, the entire southern California dispatching operation goes with it! You won't get an answer at 911 for months!
Dear Sage,
How do you handle 911 hangup calls?
Hung Up
Dear H.,
I don't have any hang-ups! But telephonically, we do get a small number
of accidental or mistaken, no-voice 911 calls. We call them all back, have
the operator interrupt some, and finally have two officers investigate the
rest. Naturally, if we hear sounds of a fight or argument, or reach someone
who can't verify "no problem," we dispatch immediately. Bigger
cities have a bigger problem. Some have the call-takers enter an incident,
which is routed to a special position that continually tries to call the
number back. Either way, you're stuck verifying such calls, either by phone
(using a standard procedure) or in-person.
Sage
Dear Sage,
Can you explain the announcement that AT&T and SCC Inc. made during
the APCO conference, about their wireless location product?
Located
Dear L.,
Well, my technical weaknesses are showing again. As I understand it, SCC
jumped out of the software market, probably seeing more revenue on the telephone
side of the fence. Now they've joined AT&T to (thankfully) propose using
SS7 to zip location data around the wireless 911 system. But-it's their
pricing that has PSAP managers hot-headed! My RFP buddies say they'll charge
a $2.38 start-up fee for each wireless subscriber (LA has 1 million!), and
then $.30 a month for on-going costs. According to my accountant, that other
company is charging a flat start-up fee, and just $.20 a subscriber monthly.
Moving: There's movement in the great Baltimore caper! A well-respected, big-city fire dispatcher tells his Internet buddies that 311 is "a gutless response to political pressure," and the city's recent report "is so full of holes that it brings embarrassment to those of us in public safety who feel that truth is more important than an individuals job security." He says that Baltimore's errors in analyzing 311 success are "glaring" and that, "The only 'science' applied appears to be political."
He says the real problem was the city's policy to dispatch to every 911 call. If an incident was a non-emergency when reported to 311, why did the same type of incident require an immediate police response when the same caller dialed 911?, he asked. "(Police Commissioner) Frazier knows as well as I that the so-called 'success' he cites regarding Baltimore's 311 trial was due to: more staff, (and) call prioritization. The specific telephone number dialed by the caller was scientifically irrelevant to the 'study'." Nevertheless, we must remain focused on the chief problem, he said, and remind our elected officials: "It's the staffing stupid!"