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With a global pandemic, emergency communication centers have had to rethink the traditional approach to 9-1-1 operations. Innovative approaches to staffing and call-taking have been spurred into action by the need for social distancing and facility decontamination.
Alexandria 911 works remotely
The City of Alexandria, Virginia is using FirstNet to enable 9-1-1 dispatchers to remotely take calls and handle computer-aided dispatch (CAD) operations from their homes and other remote locations.
Renee Gordon, director of Alexandria’s Department of Emergency & Customer Communications (DECC), said that reliable broadband was a key component of their plan. “We didn’t want to rely on people’s home internet because we know they can lose connectivity,” she said. “We know we won’t lose connectivity with FirstNet.”
They had some concerns about the unknowns of remote call-taking, but the COVID-19 crisis spurred them into action. “We started planning and testing in January. We did a lot of testing,” said Director Gordon. “Probably why others aren’t using it is because it’s scary. What happens if the call drops?”
Implementation occurred in three distinct phases. First, the remote equipment was set up in a test environment at the emergency communications center in January. Then, remote capability went live on March 6 with remote workers answering only non-emergency phone calls for the first month. Finally, after it was evident the system was working, remote workers began handling 9-1-1 calls.
Alexandria’s remote dispatchers use laptops, headsets, mobile routers with computer aided dispatch, FirstNet smartphones, and FirstNet hotspots. The dispatchers at home remotely access the department’s CAD system via a connection to a laptop set up at their normal dispatching position back at the 9-1-1 center with full functionality.
According to Alexandria, remote employees are working the same way, except in a different location—their call volume is still the same and they have access to the same tools. The dispatchers use RapidSOS, Smart911, and the agency-established talk groups for 3-1-1 and 9-1-1 to easily share information.
Fulton County activates backup site
When concerns for the COVID-19 pandemic began to escalate, Fulton County, Georgia, activated a temporary backup emergency communications center at an off-site location away from downtown Atlanta. A backup facility allows for separating shifts or personnel for physical distancing and offers an alternate location if the primary center requires a medical decontamination.
Although Fulton County does not have a permanent backup site, they have agreements in place to use other county facilities and have dedicated equipment that can be transported and quickly activated for call-taking and dispatching. The portable equipment includes access to the computer-aided dispatch system, a 9-1-1 telephone system, fire station alerting, and mobile radio control stations. The county’s primary phone system is voice over IP with connectivity to the county’s network plus a cache of FirstNet mobile devices for additional communications capability.
Fulton County’s standby facility and equipment—the same used during Super Bowl LIII—has been useful on multiple occasions during the pandemic. Fulton County’s primary center twice required a complete decontamination and cleaning. So oncoming shift personnel reported directly to the backup site for up to five days until the primary center was operational again.
When a neighboring emergency communications center in the metro Atlanta area experienced a potential exposure, Fulton County immediately mobilized to ensure their backup site was configured to accommodate another agency’s operations and technical systems. Ultimately, the other agency used space within their own facility and the backup center wasn’t needed. But the request served as a quick exercise to ensure Fulton County could support other emergency communications centers on short notice.
Connecting with you
As always, please share your experiences with me about how FirstNet can help your agency. My FirstNet Authority colleagues and I are participating in virtual public safety conferences, and I hope you’ll check out our presentations and sessions at these events:
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