Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Dog Pound

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 20:06:07 -0500

Yes, the Holiday Hound did hear about that Warwick (RI) fire comm center ho-ha over
Christmas decorations, but also learned that the "victim" dispatcher has withdrawn his
criminal complaint against a co-worker, saying he acted to hastily in contacting the
police. And what's more, the dispatcher who destroyed the Christmas decorations is telling
local reporters that it was, "an office practical joke that went horribly awry." It was
not a dispute over putting up Christmas decorations in the comm center, he said, but
rather some interplay between two dispatchers that got out of hand.

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The public safety communications career of Jack Atkinson just never ends: after two years
of his work, the Clark (Wash.) Regional Emergency Services Agency has been accredited by
the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Atkinson's career
began... well, way back. He dispatched during the 1950s, not coincidentally was Clark
County's first 911 director in 1978, then held several comm center management positions in
California before "retiring" in 1995. He landed back in Washington state and volunteered
to help his former agency, including heading the accreditation project.

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The Minneapolis/St. Paul region celebrated the 20th anniversary of its E911 system, a
massive endeavor--then or now--that was administered by an unusual 7-county elected board.
The system covered 31 PSAPs, 77 central offices, over 2.2 million phone lines, 5 telephone
companies and well over 200 public safety agencies. Several of today's "big guns" of E911
were founding members of the system, which is down to "just" 27 PSAPs now, but is still an
excellent model of technical and administrative cooperation.

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An ssociated Press story is making the rounds, saying that the New York City Fire
Department's research and development captain has cobbled together an experimental "post
radio" that repeats field radio transmissions to improve in-building radio coverage. The
unit, made from a camera case, radio gear and a personal watercraft battery, were
developed last spring and, "has been performing well in dozens of field tests and about
half a dozen elaborate drills." FDNY spokesman Frank Gribbon said, "We like the concept.
Everyone is very excited." On the other hand, apparently everyone at FDNY isn't aware that
several companies already market commercial devices that perform the same functions--or
would be happy to modify their existing products to do whatever FDNY needs.

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The federal COPS program has issued another in its series of problem-oriented guides for
law enforcement: "Responding to False Burglar Alarms," a 50-page brochure with lots of
interesting information. Download an Acrobat (pdf) version at:

http://www.usdoj.gov/cops/pdf/cp_resources/guidebooks/e05021556.pdf

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You could see this coming: York County (Penn.) commissioners have declined to publicly
release a report on the county's 911 system problems and solutions, saying it would be a
homeland security risk. Last year the commissioners tried to do the same thing with a
Phase II E911 report, saying the location of wireless carrier tower sites was sensitive.
The most recent study was performed by Emergency Services Education and Consulting Group,
cost $100,000 and focuses on the E911 system's aging infrastructure. The commissioners
promise to release the report after they implement any recommendations--but if they don't
tackle any of the recommendations, the report will never be released! Oh, they can't
discuss the memo in private sessions either--that would violate the state's "Sunshine"
law.

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New World Systems signed the Sedona (Ariz.) Police Department to a $300,000 contract
valued for Aegis/MSP CAD, records management, mobile computing, in-field reporting, CAD
mapping, data analysis and mapping, state/NCIC interface and other modules. Sedona is a
small, picturesque town of 10,000 whose activity is boosted by 4 million tourists a year.

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The Council Bluffs (Ia.) Police Department and Pottawattamie Sheriff’s Office signed with
New World Systems for a $1 million system of CAD, records management, mobile computing and
in-field reporting, corrections management, CAD mapping, E911 and other software. The two
jurisdictions said they selected New World because of the integration of all the modules
and company stability. The system will serve almost 150,000 residents living across the
river from Omaha (Neb.), and will handle some 115,000 a year.

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