Public Expects Dispatchers To Be Watching Twitter
The nation’s public safety agencies should be monitoring their Web and social media sites so they can promptly respond to requests for help, according to those who answered a Red Cross survey on how the Internet fits into emergency service plans….
States Score âFâ On Human Resource Needs
The 50 states have failed to provide support for the human resource needs of the country’s public safety communications centers, according to an interim study by the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO), resulting in an &#…
Court Rules in Long-Running Lawsuit
A New Jersey appeals court has issued its latest ruling in a lawsuit filed against the city of Newark almost 10 years ago alleging a dispatcher mishandled a 911 call reporting a kidnapping. The case highlights the need for very specific language if sta…
Court Rules in Long-Running Lawsuit
A New Jersey appeals court has issued its latest ruling in a lawsuit filed against the city of Newark almost 10 years ago alleging a dispatcher mishandled a 911 call reporting a kidnapping. The case highlights the need for very specific language if sta…
Fla. Dispatcher Reprimanded After Phone Remark
The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) has given one of its dispatchers a verbal reprimand for an inappropriate remark made during a conversation with an allied agency dispatcher, and related to a DUI driver who later sideswiped another vehicle, killing the …
Retirement Ends Porn Investigation
The chief dispatcher for the Southampton Village (NY) police department will retire after 14 years of service, ending an investigation launched in April when pornographic images were found on his work computer. Wayne Petry will stay on the job to train…
FCC Finds Way to Grant Frequency Waiver
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has determined that Westchester County (NY) did not meet regulatory requirements in a request to use certain paging frequencies to complete a large public safety radio network established in 2004. But the FCC…
Murder Revelation: No 911 Call Follow-Up
Neither a veteran Germantown (Tenn.) public safety dispatcher or her supervising lieutenant followed up on a 911 call where at least 10 gunshots were audible because they had no way to look up the latitude and longitude of the call, and both believed
Study Tries to Fine-Tune Medical Dispatching
A research study of emergency medical incidents in San Francisco found that dispatchers using emergency medical dispatching (EMD) instructions devised by Priority Dispatch Corp. sent out emergency units to seven reports of cardiac arrests for every one…
Street Renaming Plan For Fallen Officer Stalls
A Lexington (Ken.) dispatcher’s project to rename a city street for fallen officer Bryan Durman failed to gather any votes at a recent city addressing board meeting, but now the mayor has supported the the idea, putting new life in the proposal. …