TOPEKA, Kan. — For dispatchers and their supervisors, their job comes down to one fact: People’s lives are in their hands. And while averaging more than 1,200 calls a day, there isn’t room for mistakes.
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ASAP to PSAP: A Preview of Phase II
Positive changes are coming soon on behalf of the ANSI-approved Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP) program that will benefit the alarm industry and 9-1-1 PSAPs equally. For the participating 9-1-1 PSAPs in Texas and Virginia, the volume of telephone calls reduced with alarm companies using ASAP to deliver alarm notifications has reached the tens of [...]
Situation Management: What’s Next in NG9-1-1
In the universe of public safety communications, the stars seem to be aligning for Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1). NG9-1-1 standards have taken shape and, by all reports, some emergency communications centers will be ready to receive live Next Gen 9-1-1 calls in the near future. Exactly when the complete transition to NG9-1-1 will take place is [...]
Telecommunicator Spotlight: 3 Decades of Dispatching & Cindy Cielock Is Still Loving It
“I love the adrenalin rush when there is a hot call. I enjoy the stress of it all. I like the hot call, and I like a successful conclusion,” Cindy Cielock says about her job as a public safety dispatcher for Onondaga 9-1-1 in Syracuse, N.Y. The area comprises 827,000 square miles with 600 deputies and 450 Syracuse police officers. Cielock has lived in Syracuse her entire life.
Telecommunicator Spotlight: Medler’s Assistance to Others Elicits Indescribable Good Feeling
Kelli Medler is passionate about her work. “I have a lot of respect for all the officers I work with,” she says. Would she repeat her career path to end up where she is today? “Hands down, definitely, I would be here,” she says. And, it appears she is here to stay.
Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative
Every day, law enforcement officers at all levels of government—state, local, tribal and federal—observe suspicious behaviors or receive reports from concerned civilians, private security and other government agencies about behaviors that could have a potential nexus to terrorism. Until recently, this information was generally stored at the local level and shared within the agency—or, at the most, regionally shared—as part of an incident reporting system. Enter the Nationwide SAR Initiative.
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Dispatching: A Profession or a Job?
- Naples City Council Bristle at Cost of New Radios; Suggest Officers Share
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FCC Says PSAPs Must Be Able to Receive 9-1-1 Texts
- Residents: Go Slow on Address Change
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Dyersville, Iowa, to Dump Dispatchers
- Kansas Dispatchers Help Save Lives under Stress
- Utah Man Ties Up 9-1-1 Line, Wants Ride Home from Walmart
- Atlantic County (N.J.) Working on Reverse 9-1-1 System
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General Dynamics Introduces New Portable Communications System Analyzer for Land Mobile Radio Systems
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Zetron’s MAX Dispatch Now Supports More Radio Types
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Lmartinez: Awesome job Cindra & Chris! I absolutely agree...
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Cindy Dunaway: It's so hard to look back on calls we have taken w...
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: With the way our government leaders and Congress h...
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Tanya Gotcher: Regardless of what the dispatcher said to the call...
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Sash: Congratulations for a job well done!...
Mitigating the Damage from Mistakes: Four Tips
Cindra Dunaway on February 20, 2012
in Calltaking/Dispatch, Commentary/Blogs, Operations
As much as we strive for perfection in the public safety field, at times we will stumble and make a mistake. Some mistakes are easier to fix than others. Some mistakes we never want to think about again. Some make us laugh; some make us cry. Hopefully, you’ve never made a mistake that caused someone [...]