Yesterday APCO released a “Sample RFP Template for NG9-1-1 Capabilities” to assist 9-1-1 directors and authorities with their procurement activities, with a particular focus on achieving interoperability, cybersecurity, innovation and cost transparency. The template offers recommendations, guidance, and specific operational requirements, and is designed so agencies can customize their own RFP documents for all or portions of a complete NG9-1-1 deployment.
APCO’s hope is that wide use of this RFP template will serve to update and modernize the procurement process and place 9-1-1 professionals on the path to comprehensive, end-to-end NG9‑1-1 solutions. Access the RFP template and additional background information.
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For National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week 2020, we are again offering to “buy you lunch” but, recognizing the vast difference in comm center sizes, we are offering two prizes – one for a smaller comm center (up to 50 employees) and one for a larger one (51 and up). To enter the contest, tell us about something that happened this year that you want to share in honor of NPSTW. It can be a major event or the actions of one person, an upgrade to your facility, a procedural change or training that inspired you. The large and small comm centers with the most likes on their entry will win $100 toward lunch or a snack for their agency. Voting begins February 3, so get your entries in now.
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On January 29, leading democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a substantial proposal to fund infrastructure investments across the country. Notably, the proposal would provide $12 billion in grants for the implementation of Next Generation 9-1-1. APCO will provide further updates of any legislative developments.
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Logan City Police 911 Communications, Utah, has received Agency Training Program Certification, a Project 33® Initiative, from APCO International.
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Alexandria, VA – The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International has filed a project with ANSI to reaffirm and re-designate the APCO/NENA Standard for TTY/TDD Use in the Communications Center.
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WBAY.com
The caller told Brown County Communications Supervisor Tracy Ertl she was being held in the Caribbean country in “a house with chains on it.” She had escaped and feared her captor might arrive at any moment to re-imprison her.
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The North Augusta Star
Retired telecommunicators Ruth Taylor and Linda Pitcher spent their entire careers in the North August, S.C., dispatch. They recalled the decades of ups and downs in their job.
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WSMV
Brady Lutton pleaded through social media with a former firefighter in Gulfport, Mississippi, who was apparently suffering from PTSD and found a way to help him through the fire department near the man's house.
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Patch
Telecommunicator Charity Wlodarski and 13-year-old Abby Johnson received lifesaving awards after Wlodarski kept the girl calm and instructed her through performing CPR on her father.
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We learned recently of the passing of Joseph Robert Schapp, 83, of Jacksonville, Florida, formerly of Brookeville and Clarksville, Maryland. Joe, who passed away Dec. 19, 2019, was a Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police officer, before joining the U.S. Capitol Police, where he served as communications commander.
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Michelle Marie Pascarella, 50, of Phoenix, Arizona, passed away suddenly on Jan. 6. She moved to Phoenix in 1997 where she worked at Protection One until finding her true calling at the Scottsdale Police Department, first as a dispatcher and later as a Supervisor of Police Communications Dispatch.
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Loveland Reporter-Herald
Telecommunicator Stephanie Heaton instructed the father on keeping the mother comfortable as the baby was born soon after he called 9-1-1 and before medical responders arrived.
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Patch
Telecommunicators will work 24 hour shifts to stop rotating between day and night shifts, a practice that has disrupted their sleep patterns.
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Milton Courier
Four Rock County, Wis., fire departments have started using automatic vehicle location (AVL) to make fire response faster and more efficient.
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Chicago Sun-Times
The city’s upgrade to NG9-1-1 will allow callers to send video and data via smart phone. It will also locate callers while determining the nearest first responder.
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KOLD News 13
Public safety telecommunicators will ask additional questions of callers who complain of respiratory problems. The goal is to help protect first responders who may be heading toward a person infected by the virus.
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