Chicomm Blog

It’s been almost a year since a coalition of national 911 organizations formed with what they called an “aggressive but achievable” goal of transitioning all emergency call systems and call centers to next generation 911 by 2020. In the months since the coalition announced its intentions, progress has been made, but the question still remains: Will next generation 911 meet its 2020 goals?

We don’t have a crystal ball handy to answer that question, but we can offer some insight about what progress has been made recently and how far the experts say there is to go.

As we’re starting a new year, it’s a good time to ask yourself – and your agency: Is our command center stuck in the past? Your center has countless moving parts, all of which need to be properly maintained, serviced and upgraded. But budget concerns, higher-profile priorities and a shortage of resources may mean your upgrades keep getting put on the back burner.

The beginning of a new year offers the opportunity to put your command center front and center. Here are 5 new year’s resolutions to strengthen your command center:

Public safety blogs are a great way to keep up on the latest trends in technology for first responders, the new upgrades that are available and the innovative ways that agencies are using communications to keep communities safe.

The best public safety blogs represent a variety of perspectives and geographies, and they’re written by everyone from police chiefs to telecommunications executives. Many are updated frequently to keep readers consistently informed about public safety issues, and some of the ones we’ve compiled may be helpful gems that you’ve previously overlooked.

As we look forward to the new year, here are six public safety blogs to read in 2017:

Official Blog of the International Association of Chiefs of Police

With new posts several times a week, the blog of the IACP features insights on various aspects of policing, from community engagement to the group’s Benchmarking and Analytics Tool. It’s a good place to learn about what kinds of interventions and technology other agencies are using and have found to be successful.

The 911 communications firm West’s Safety Services has been selected to develop and operate the 911 National Emergency Address Database (NEAD) platform, a move that brings the country’s first responders closer to better locating wireless customers who call 9-1-1 from indoors.

“We agree with the FCC that providing a dispatchable address to our public safety partners is the ‘gold standard’ that the industry must pursue,” Kearney said. “We’re passionate about the NEAD project, which we believe will more effectively assist first responders in locating wireless callers.”

Motorola Solutions has rolled out a new APX 8500 all-band mobile radio with a host of new features aimed at reducing interruptions in everything from voice communications to software upgrades.

Motorola Solutions is working to make virtual reality in public safety a reality for perhaps the not-too-distant future with cutting-edge technology that will give personnel at command centers the experience of being on the ground at incident scenes.

Motorola Solutions recently ran live demonstrations of the new technology at this year’s Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) convention in Orlando, Fla.

The immersive experience that was demonstrated makes use of new, existing and evolving technology including: virtual reality glasses, 360-degree cameras, body-worn cameras, head-mounted displays, drone cameras and eye interaction technology from a startup called Eyefluence.

As wireless communication solutions are constantly evolving, it’s a challenge to keep up with the latest and greatest devices and functionality. While it would be impossible to keep up with every update or product that’s made available, it is worthwhile to conduct an occasional appraisal of your existing systems -- and your current challenges -- to see if a boost, replacement or new investment makes sense. 

As campus security concerns have changed over time across the country, so, too, has the response from education safety officials, including an increased reliance on school resource officers and police. As the number of officers in schools continues to rise, experts on both sides of the issue are still debating whether the increased police presence is improving campus security.

For now, there’s a lack of strong data one way or the other, and most people in the education safety industry will admit that they just don’t know for sure. What they do know is that the number of officers is up: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the share of schools with a school resource officer increased from 1 percent in 1975 to 40 percent in 2007. As of 2014, there were 31,000 school resource officers employed in public schools nationwide.

More research is under way about the effectiveness of having resource officers and police on campuses. Proponents say the officers protect students, act as mentors, parental figures and psychologists, and improve community relations with police.

Members of the public rely on emergency assistance in some of the most challenging situations - and officers rely on their emergency vehicle equipment to be able to respond quickly and safely. Whether your department is outfitting or updating an emergency vehicle, some equipment features are essential.

Emergency vehicles are some of the most versatile and hardest-working modes of transportation on the road. They need to be high-tech, high visibility, and able to safely transport officers, prisoners and canines.

As you’re thinking about what emergency communications equipment and capabilities you need, be sure to build in the time and resources for professional installation as the best way to ensure that everything is handled appropriately. After all, your vehicles – and everyone’s safety – depend on it. Products may promise easy installation, but having a trained installer on hand means you can focus on job number one.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most essential features for emergency vehicle equipment.

As emergency communications equipment has lagged behind consumer technology, everyone from global governments to telecom companies and cell phone manufacturers has been collaborating to bridge the gap, particularly when it comes to pinpointing emergency callers’ locations. In the UK, a new technology known as Advanced Mobile Location, or AML, is showing promise as a public safety game changer.

AML is the product of a collaboration between British Telecom, the European Emergency Number Association and handset maker HTC. In a case study of the project, officials said the new solution immediately improved location accuracy levels “by over 4,000 times” vs. the legacy systems.

No major capital investment from any of the stakeholders was required to launch AML, and its low cost and effectiveness give it the potential to join all the essentials that local governments need in their public safety budgets.