911 ResponsAbility

9-1-1 Fund Raiding

The AP recently published an article exposing that more than $200 million collected by cell phone providers from their subscribers for the express purpose of 9-1-1 system upgrades has been raided in the last two years for myriad purposes such as filling budget gaps, keeping campaign promises, and even paying for police uniforms, according to an Associated Press report.

The pillaging of the 9-1-1 wireless fund is putting all of us at risk. These funds are critical to public safety agencies’ ability to receive 9-1-1 calls, identify 9-1-1 caller locations, and swiftly dispatch emergency responders.

When public safety answering points (PSAPs) are denied funds to pay dispatcher salaries and infrastructure upgrades, this causes frightening delays in response times. Without funding, the critical resources PSAPs rely on for dispatching emergency services is impeded.

Facing a dire lack of funding, PSAPs can’t take advantage of new technological advances that could vastly improve emergency response. In far too many instances, the location of a 9-1-1 caller can’t even be identified if they’re calling from a cell phone.

Archaic computer systems also put PSAPs at risk. Public safety software is one of the most demanding high availability environments, requiring 24x7x365 usage with 99.999 percent uptime. The average PC has a functional lifespan of two to five years, and as these systems age the likelihood of system crashes increases, resulting in substantial downtime or complete failure. In fact, we have clients who are struggling with equipment that’s more than a decade old because their 9-1-1 funds have been ransacked for other purposes.

This is a true travesty when lives are on the line. We all know that when a loved one faces an emergency, every second counts. There shouldn’t be a dime left in these 9-1-1 funds used for any other purpose until every PSAP in the state is Phase II compliant and all dispatchers are certified to uniform standards.

Read a Policy Statement from the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), National Association of State 9-1-1 Administrators (NASNA) and 9-1-1 Industry Alliance (9IA) Opposing State Raiding of 9-1-1 Funds.

Happy National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

InterAct Public Safety would like to say thank you for all the hard work and countless, thankless hours you put in.

As a public safety telecommunicator, your job is to keep those in crisis calm and help them in their time of need. Your voice on the other line is their hope and too often you go unrecognized for it.

As a demonstration of our appreciation, we have made a donation to 911Cares, an organization that works tirelessly to offer emotional support and financial assistance for communicators in crisis.

And take this week to pat yourself on the back and know that you are a true hero...every day!

April is National 9-1-1 Education Month

How time flies! It seems like only yesterday that the ground was covered in snow and now it is halfway through April!

April is an important month for the 9-1-1 community because it is National 9-1-1 Education Month. In 2008, Congress passed a resolution marking April as the national month to raise public awareness about the 9-1-1 system, its benefits and appropriate use.

Since its inception last year, the number of organizations recognizing and hosting public education forums and activities for National 9-1-1 Education Month has grown, and now represents the entire 9-1-1 community including emergency responders, telecommunications organizations, educators, service providers and community organizations.

The National Emergency Number Association has a webpage devoted to 9-1-1 Education Month where you can learn more about the importance of 9-1-1 services and how to get involved in 9-1-1 awareness and educational activities throughout the month.

The E9-1-1 Institute also has a page set up that provides more information about 9-1-1 and the importance of educating people on the benefits and proper uses for 9-1-1. Its site includes a downloadable resolution that your organization, city or county can adopt officially recognizing April as 9-1-1 Education Month.

With so many changes happening both in the industry and in how people communicate with each other, National 9-1-1 Education Month is a great opportunity to raise awareness of the continuing need for 9-1-1 and to say thank you to all to communicators that provide a vital public service for communities around the country.

InterAct Provides Ideal Solutions for Newly-Introduced Colorado Bill

On March 26, 2009, Colorado State Senator Bill Cadman (R-CO-10) introduced SB09-255, a bill that proposes the creation of the Colorado Shared Services Authority. While the bill has not seen much legislative activity yet, it could have huge benefits to the 9-1-1 and emergency communications industry.

Some of the bill’s key provisions include calling for the consolidation, streamlining and sharing of data and information among state entities. Specifically, the bill authorizes the development of an innovative shared services delivery model that provides shared services to eligible public sector entities; the establishment of one or more statewide data centers; the establishment of one or more statewide call centers for utilization by eligible public sector entities that provides technology-enabled tiered call center services cost effectively; the facilitation of shared services through agreements with eligible public sector entities and public-private partnerships. The bill specifically mentions “shared services” for law enforcement, including but not limited to computer-aided dispatch, records management systems, E9-1-1 and support for mobile computing devices in patrol cars, as well as governmental notification systems such as 2-1-1 and 3-1-1.

If SB09-255 becomes law, InterAct could help Colorado implement a shared data network quickly with our next generation computer aided dispatch system, InterActCADng. InterActCADng is a hosted or premise based application that can be distributed from a central location and enable flexible multiagency configurations. With its multi-tenant environment, each agency has the ability to customize the system to their specific requirements and processes (i.e., unique event codes and response lineups).

InterActCADng’s peer-to-peer architecture means that even if the main server or network connection goes down, the individual agencies and workstations will remain operational and can even communicate with each other until the connection is reestablished. Imagine not having to resort to the “dark ages” of dispatching via pen and paper if the CAD server goes down!

This latest piece of legislation is yet another step in the right direction for the industry as a whole. While tiered call centers and/or shared services are not the right fit for every state, county or municipality, they are great options to have on the table. Considering how far the technology has come in just the last several years, tiered, integrated data sharing on a widespread scale are now not just feasible, but promising for so many parts of the county. We will continue to follow the progress of this legislation to see how it is received by the Colorado State Senate.

Text for Help to 9-1-1 – Location Based SMS

It’s no secret that text messaging is popular. The CTIA, the wireless association for wireless telecommunications industry, finds that 75 billion text messages were sent in June 2008 alone.  This a staggering increase from the 7.2 billion that were sent just three years prior and the number this year is suspected to approach half a trillion text message a month soon.

It comes as no surprise that with the global popularity of SMS data communications, most people in the United States believe they can text 9-1-1 to get help. Unfortunately, that is not the case – yet.

The promise of Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) services does making texting and even sending images and video to emergency response centers possible.  This week, TeleCommunications Systems (TSYS), the leading provider of SMS services to mobile carriers, announced that it is working on location capabilities for text messages. The use of cell broadcast accommodates SMS to a specific location which would make it much easier for 9-1-1 dispatchers to locate and send emergency personnel to a cell phone caller’s location just by receiving a text message.  You can read more about TSYS plans for development here.

With the tragic and horrifying school and campus shootings in recent years, it is apparent that younger generations who are accustomed to texting, sending photos and even videos from their mobile phones believe that 9-1-1 services can receive this information.  While the SMS location technology is not yet in place and the telephone companies have not yet figured out how to route SMS, video, and image data to the appropriate PSAP, the telephony technology does exist to transmit this kind of data. 

The SolaCom E9-1-1 Emergency Network is an IP Enabled system that combines the LibertySHIELD Selective Router, an open Positioning Center (VPC) interface, and cost-effective EG200 VoIP termination, which will allow the transmission of SMS, image, and even video once telephone companies and the government figure out how to effectively design, implement and regulate the transmission of this information to the appropriate 9-1-1 center.

Having an IP Enabled system is preferable to the more prevalent IP Capable System because when a 9-1-1 call from an IP Capable provider is sent to the Telco router, it is converted from IP into an analog signal to travel over the Centralized Automatic Message Accounting (CAMA) trunk system to the controller at the PSAP where it is then converted back into IP for delivery to the call taker. During CAMA conversion, important supplemental data like call information, geolocation, and other types of media such as video is stripped away and thus cannot be delivered to the PSAP.

In contrast, IP Enabled systems do not require a call to be converted into an analog signal.  As a result, data is not removed and the PSAP can receive additional potentially life saving information. IP Enabled systems are designed on an open architecture and calls can be transferred to any other vendors’ system with all data intact. This makes it a much more attractive and lucrative investment as public demand for the ability to contact 9-1-1 through other means than voice communication grows.

As people globally continue to increase their SMS/data service plans and reduce their cell voice minutes, it is increasingly apparent that NG9-1-1 capabilities are needed as more and more people choose SMS communications. Having IP Enabled systems in place will make this transition faster and easier as technology and telephone companies move one step closer to Next Generation 9-1-1.

Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Apps Due April 27

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is pleased to announce that it is seeking applications for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (“Recovery Act”). The Recovery Act - Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program provides resources to improve the capacity of state and local criminal justice systems. The Recovery Act funding will focus on job creation and retention in support of evidence-based and data-driven programs in the following areas: 1) preventing and reducing violent crime; 2) providing funding for neighborhood-based probation and parole officers, as a compliment to the COPS program; 3) reducing mortgage fraud and crime related to vacant properties; 4) hiring of civilian support personnel in law enforcement (training staff, analysts, dispatchers, etc.); 5) enhancing forensic and crime scene investigations; 6) improving resources and services for victims of crime; 7) supporting problem-solving courts; and 8) national training and technical assistance partnerships. The Recovery Act Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Program will solicit applications from national, state, regional, or local public and private entities, including for-profit (commercial) and nonprofit organizations, faith-based and community organizations, institutions of higher educa tion, and tribal jurisdictions. Applications for funding should be submitted through the on-line OJP Grants Management System (GMS). For additional information on the Office of Justice Programs’ Recovery Act Grant Programs, please visit the OJP website at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/recovery/.

Contact InterAct's grant specialists at grants@interact911.com for assistance preparing your application. 

Byrne/JAG Grant Procedures Announced

Last week the Department of Justice announced procedures on how to obtain funds allocated in Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program.  In an announcement, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that $2 billion would be made available in funds in order to help local and state law enforcement fight crime and keep streets safe.

This announcement along with an estimated $8.8 billion in potential additional funds that will be made available to law enforcement agencies under the “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund” (SFSF) for public safety and other government services, means that that the clock is now ticking for agencies wanting to use these resources to upgrade and enhance their existing public safety technology. According to the Department of Justice, the funds for state and local law enforcement assistance programs will be available for allocation until September 2010.  That means that states and local agencies should begin vocalizing, identifying and writing proposals for funding of its most crucial public safety requirements and needs.

PoliceOne.com has two great summaries of the procedures for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program as well as a review and allocation per state of the monies available to law enforcement agencies via the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund (SFSF).  Be sure to check them out before starting any proposals!

Contact InterAct's grant specialists at grants@interact911.com for assistance.

Solving Crime with Twitter

A friend sent me this very cool article about how "police and fire departments across the country are tapping into social networking [eg. Twitter and Facebook] to disseminate information to the public." I'm rather amazed at the ingenious ways people are using social networking sites for business and public service.

In fact, InterAct just started posting updates on Twitter, too. Follow us at http://twitter.com/interact911

Congratulations, Terry Mclarty!

Last week, the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) completed its voting to fill a vacancy on the NG9-1-1 Industry Collaboration Events Steering Committee. Devery Thumann of Motorola and InterAct’s own Terry McLarty split the vote almost equally, and as a consequence, both were elected to the Steering Committee. Congratulations to both men for being elected to the Steering Committee with such enthusiasm from your peers!

Terry will be one of the voting members of the Steering Committee that is charged with representing the interests and opinions of the vendor community within NENA’s Next Generation Partner Program Certification and Accreditation Program (NGPP C&A) as well as his obligations to the wider Committee and NENA governance.

All of you who have worked with Terry in the past knows that the Committee is in good hands with Terry on it. For those of you not familiar with Terry’s work, he is arguably one of the most innovative thinkers working on 911 Telephony Design and Engineering issues today.

Congratulations again to both Devery and Terry. You have challenging, yet rewarding, work ahead of you! 

Surveillance Camera Integration in 911 Centers

The City of Chicago recently took a step forward in improving public safety by integrating its video surveillance camera network into its computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system. This gives dispatchers the ability to take control of nearby cameras and view live footage of the situation at hand. Yet this approach still leaves security teams in reactive mode, only being able to respond once an incident has occurred and they have been notified of it through traditional channels, like a call to 9-1-1. This also presumes that a third-party has witnessed the incident and cares to report it. Have you ever heard of someone who was trespassing calling 9-1-1 on themselves?

Sophisticated video analytics would empower the city to be proactive — speeding response times and potentially saving lives. Video analytics systems are configured to automatically alert security dispatchers of emerging situations such as a person trespassing or loitering in an unauthorized area or a vehicle moving in an unusual direction. It can even automatically notify emergency personnel of an auto accident, enabling first responders to arrive on the scene much faster instead of having to rely on others to report an accident. In this scenario, video clips are automatically forwarded to dispatchers so they can see what really occurred and set a priority level accordingly.

With true integration such as occurs with InterAct Public Safety’s computer aided dispatch system, InterActCAD, and the InterAct TrueSentry digital video surveillance system, dispatchers can not only see live footage but rewind to quickly ascertain what occurred just before an incident was reported. This helps with the ability to respond appropriately to an incident, and also eliminates much of the finger-pointing that often occurs in the wake of an incident.

Video footage can automatically attached to a CAD record, and transmitted to emergency teams responding to the scene so they’re better equipped to understand the situation at hand. The video clip can follow through to the records management system, giving investigators immediate access to important visual records instead of having to cull through hours of footage to see what occurred.

This true integration would allow any city to conduct proactive policing – resulting in improved safety across the region. Check out this video that demonstrates the power of our integrated solution.