911 ResponsAbility

Billions of Stimulus Dollars Available for Public Safety Technology

Before the President signed the huge economic stimulus bill into law, I posted a blog entry stating that public safety organizations could benefit if the bill passed, opining that: “It has been such a relief to read recent articles and reports indicating that at least someone higher up is listening and understands that you can't continue to starve out infrastructure and think it will just keep working.”

Since that earlier post back on February 9, the economic stimulus bill has become law, making available hundreds of billions of dollars for local, state and federal government projects. There is even a new website that tracks where the close to $800 billion dollars is going. Even though the numbers in the final bill are different than the ones from the previous post – which was based on the House numbers – public safety organizations still stand to benefit tremendously from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Under the final version of the bill, between $4 billion and $13.8 billion is set aside for local public safety spending. Exact budget figures depend on how states will spend the 19.2 percent of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund allocated for “public safety and other government services.” Regardless, there are still billions of dollars that can be used to help upgrade public safety infrastructure. Two grant programs that have seen significant cuts in the past several years will also be getting a boost. Byrne/JAG grants will receive $2 billion more in funding and COPS will receive an additional $1 billion. While both of these figures are less than what was included in the House bill, it still marks a significant increase to both of these grant programs’ budgets, and to money that can be used for public safety enhancements..

According to a review of state and local “wish lists” of how to spend stimulus money, IT enhancements, radio and 9-1-1 systems, Computer Aided Dispatch, records management and automated notification systems are all mentioned as worthy projects that could help improve public safety systems. Even though there are billions of dollars that are made available, competition to receive grant funds is expected to be fierce.

Agencies looking to use stimulus money to improve their IT systems should start drawing up grant proposals now. InterAct can help. Please contact our specialists at grants@interact911.com.

E9-1-1-Only Land Lines?

Very interesting and I think pretty smart on Verizon's part. Can I spend another 5 bucks to include access for my satellite TV system? Honestly E9-1-1 and DirecTV are the only two reasons I have a land line...

However if this catches on, I worry it may end up being a crutch to prolong the adoption of NextGen 9-1-1.

Would You Spend $5 For E911?

Verizon is thinking about offering a $5/month landline for incoming calls and E911 access. Another idea is a $10/month line for limited local calls. These offers would be available only to the company's broadband customers and the idea is to come up with price points below the $40/month mark that would retain customers. The idea of course is to push the fact that phone service over copper works in the event of emergency.

The classic challenge for the company is how to retain customers without cannibalizing revenue. In my opinion the price points under consideration are perfect but I would use $4.95 and $9.95. In addition, I would roll out the service to companies who opt for cable phone service as well. Why? To keep the customer relationships alive and to hopefully upsell these customers over time.

Company spokesman Eric Rabe explains that customers see security in land lines as they do not require batteries to work effectively. If Verizon goes forward with these price points the goal will be to minimize cannibalization while being careful not to talk down the security of the company's other services such as wireless and FiOS.

Role Play Idea

We recently heard about this story from a PSAP director in Colorado. She was requested to do a five year plan to a new board of county commissioners.  Knowing that they really did not understand what goes on in dispatch she decided to teach them. 

She walked into the room and said "I am going to put you to work." 

She handed one a telephone set, one a radio, and one a key board. 

She said "I am going to play a tape of a typical day in dispatch when one dispatcher is working and a wildfire starts."

She asked the phone person to pick up the phone any time they heard a ring, the radio person to answer the radio, and the one with the keyboard to type all of the information. The director figured she would at least get ten minutes into the situation before they'd realize how crazy it was.  At two minutes they stopped her and asked, "This is being handled by one person?"

"Yes," she responded, "and you'd better get back to typing and answering the phone because you're behind." 

At four minutes they threw up their hands and said we give up and we get the message!

The director then pulled up a picture of the dispatch center showing the 5 different systems currently in use in the center and explained how the dispatcher answers the call on one screen, then has to move to another screen to enter in the call information, and then moves to a third screen to dispatch it, while checking the map on a fourth screen.  The 9-1-1 board was blown away when they realized their single dispatcher was not only answering all of the phone calls and radio systems, but typing the information into three to five separate systems. 

They told her that it was a "severe officer safety, firefighter safety and citizen safety issue."

Amen! (or "DUH!")

Thought we would share this idea with you to use in case you are in a similar position and have to demonstrate your needs to a 9-1-1 board that truly does not understand what goes on in dispatch.

InterAct Public Safety can help solve these issues. We offer a full integrated suite of solutions including phone, CTI, CAD, GIS/Map that can eliminate duplicate data entry. We're also experts at systems integration so you don't have to swap out every system to make your existing systems into a seemless, integrated solution that can increase dispatcher efficiency...ultimately improving officer, firefighter and citizen safety.

Public Safety Could Benefit from Economic Stimulus Plan

It has been such a relief to read recent articles and reports indicating that at least someone higher up is listening and understands that you can't continue to starve out infrastructure and think it will just keep working.

The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009” as approved by the House has allocated $34-billion that could be used for public safety spending. Public safety would compete with “other” government services for up to $30-billion that could come from the “State Fiscal Stabilization Fund”, but could get a significant portion based on a review of “wish lists” published by state and local governments that included requests for funding 9-1-1 systems, computer aided dispatch, records management, and automated notification systems.

An additional $4 billion is dedicated solely to public safety and breathe new life into two grant programs, the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant Program (commonly referred to as “Byrne Grants” or “JAG” – Justice Assistance Grants Program) and the Community Oriented Policing Services Grant Program (commonly referred to as “COPS Grants”).

Under the House plan, the Byrne/JAG appropriation would increase to $3-billion. The guidelines could change, but historically, Byrne/JAG Grants included funding technology improvement programs. The primary purpose of COPS, which will receive $1 billion, has been to place more police resources in local communities, but funds have also been used for non-hiring purposes such as Crime analysis tools, particularly those related to GIS, computer aided dispatch (CAD), and 9-1-1 systems.

Now is the time for agencies to draw up their grant proposals, even though the guidelines are not completely finalized. InterAct is here to help. Please contact our grant specialists at grants@interact911.com.