Results - Topic: Internet & Public Safety

"In an Emergency, Twitter 9-1-1"

While 9-1-1 Centers gradually become more accustomed to using the Internet (governed by local protocol and SOPs to protect against misuse) as a valuable tool in its arsenal of information management resources, the use of these social networking services has until very recently been considered inappropriate...

911 Enable Completes Successful Interoperability Testing

911 Enable, a leading provider of E9-1-1 solutions for IP telephony, reports that its Emergency Routing Service (ERS) has successfully completed interoperability testing with Acme Packet's Net-Net session border controllers (SBCs). This testing provides organizations with confidence that their critical 9-1-1 data will reach the ERS, without compromising the safety and integrity of their network.

Addressing Diverse Human Behavior Issues in the New Era Of Multi-Layered Emergency Communications

The flood of new technology makes it easier than ever to reach out and communicate with someone, right? Think again. While it's true that communicating with "someone" may indeed be easier, achieving dependable communications with "everyone" on a moment's notice and in an emergency crisis is at least as much of a challenge as ever. So why is that?

Addressing Misunderstandings About Text-to-9-1-1: An Interview with NENA's Barbara Jaeger

The public's desire to contact 9-1-1 by the latest of communications technologies - SMS texting, in this case - has led to new technologies that allow callers to report crimes via text message to 9-1-1 PSAPs... The availability of this technology means that the 9-1-1 Centers are going to have to find a way to receive this new form of texted 9-1-1 call... 9-1-1 magazine recently interviewed Barbara Jaeger, ENP, President of the NENA Executive Board, about this important issue...

Alvarion Installs Wireless Network for Public Safety Connectivity in City of Cleburne, TX

Alvarion partnered up with the City of Cleburne, Texas to Install Wireless Networks for Public Safety Connectivity... Currently, police vehicles patrolling the city use a laptop computer connected to the city's fiber network and information systems via a high speed wireless broadband card, such as an AirCard. The city decided to implement a private wireless network that would eliminate recurring charges and readily expand to other city services and public works as it continues to expand the...

Botnets are a Serious Threat to First Responders

The unfortunate reality for public safety organizations that house confidential and sensitive data, including the personal information of employees and citizens, is that there is no end to cybersecurity threats such as botnets, worms, and hacking.

Cassidian & Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Text Messaging to 9-1-1 Trial a Success

Emergency communications leader Cassidian Communications and Greater Harris County 9-1-1 Emergency Network have announced the successful advanced text messaging trial using the company's next generation 9-1-1 emergency response call processing platform, VESTA. The trial involved the receipt and processing of text messages from within the Houston area. Although the general public believes the capability for short message service (SMS) also known as text messages to 9-1-1 should be available...

Cloud Computing and Public Safety Services White Paper from InterAct

InterAct has published an in-depth White Paper that examines the company's core technology: "Cloud Computing and Public Safety Services" by Dr. Toufic Boubez. Dr. Boubez pioneered the field of SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) systems as the Chief Architect for Web Services at IBM's Software Group. While there, he drove IBM's web strategies and authored several key industry specifications. He is also the author of several major books on SOA.

Dispatchers In The Clouds: Cloud Computing and the Modern PSAP

The future model of law enforcement communications centers is on the verge of a paradigm shift, one which will vastly change the way dispatching services are provided. In the near future, your communications center will likely integrate cloud-based technology. To take advantage of the cloud for emergency communications, though, we must first understand the long-term benefits of cloud-based communications centers, have clarity regarding options for deployment, and work to obtain the tools...

Facebook campaign warns that "One Punch Can Kill" after deadly UK assault

A new group that has been created on Facebook to raise awareness of violent assaults in England hopes to gained attention in both political and public safety circles. The group, called ONE PUNCH CAN KILL, was created by British writer John Mansell, whose son died last April due after suffering brain damage when he was severely beaten in an unprovoked assault.

Facecrook: New App For Law Enforcement

Facecrook, a new app for federal, state and local police, is now available on the Apple App Store. An Android version will be available soon. Facecrook is a digital notebook of suspects, persons of interest, and those arrested in your jurisdiction. Each profile contains physical descriptors, demographic information, contact information and photos.

First Global Police Tweet-a-thon Reaches More Than 11 Million Twitter Users Worldwide

On March 22-23, law enforcement agencies around the world took to Twitter to participate in a 24-hour Tweet-a-thon in order to highlight the work of officers around the world and show how they are using social media to support policing activities. The results were outstanding, with more than 230 police departments across 10 countries tweeting under the hashtag #poltwt, making it a top 10 trending topic around the globe.

Five Areas Certain to Shape Law Enforcement in 2013

As a new year approaches, law enforcement officials across the nation are undoubtedly aware of many of the trends affecting their work. Here is a look at five issues certain to shape law enforcement in 2013:

Florida Sheriff's Office Launches Text Messaging Service

The Marion County (FL) Sheriff's Office (MCSO) has launched a service that will enable citizens to text the agency for help in an emergency by texting their 9-1-1 center. The system, which was developed in house, enables urgent text messages to be received and handled by a system that is separate from the agency's 9-1-1 system. Messages are displayed on a dedicated screen.

From a Text Message to a Life Saved

Think you're good at giving good driving directions, specifying street names, lane ends, and landmarks like the mountains east and west of the your community? The same ease probably wouldn't apply in places around Saskatoon, Canada... Just ask Ron Boechler, the police chief for Corman Park, a Rural Municipality (RM) located around Saskatoon. He'd have been lost without the guidance of MD Ambulance Dispatcher Kim Wruck. Without their teamwork, a young woman would not likely have survived the...

Georgia PSAP Launches Smart911 SMS

Information is knowledge and knowledge can save lives in an emergency. The City of Sandy Springs will be the first city in Georgia to use a new 9-1-1 system that will provide first responders vital information instantly. They will also be the first city in the United States to allow 9-1-1 operators to be able to initiate texting with emergency callers.

Highland Park Police use online portal to empower citizens and save officers time

The Highland Park (IL) Police Department is now offering residents a much more convenient and cost effective online alternative to filing a police report in person for minor offenses. Using solutions from New World Systems, the leader in public sector software, and Coplogic, Inc., the Police Department's Online Citizen Reporting System is improving the use of officer time and ensuring all stolen property is accurately reported and tracked.

How 9/11 Has Changed Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysis

As the nation struggled to understand how something like 9/11 could occur on American soil, information came to light about breakdowns in information sharing between law enforcement agencies that might have helped prevent it. Predictably, there was a heated outcry to fix those breakdowns in order to protect our citizens from similar threats in the future... So, what has been done since those dark days to improve information sharing and law enforcement intelligence analysis? Actually, quite a...

Information Sharing in the Era of Social Media

There are three areas of emergency communications that have seen progress, but need continued improvement: interoperability between responding agencies and other municipalities; incoming information to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and 9-1-1 dispatch centers; and delivering information to an engaged and connected public, given the rise in popularity of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

InterAct Announces InterDEx, the Next Generation of Data Sharing and Interoperability

Continuing to deliver on its commitment to the Public Safety Cloud, InterAct, a leading provider of incident-response and management solutions today announced the release of InterDEx, a next generation data sharing and agency interoperability platform. This nationwide platform allows public safety professionals to better communicate with each other and share data freely, simply and effectively even when they work for different agencies in different jurisdictions.

InterAct WhitePaper - Cloud Computing in Public Safety

"There is no credible reason to doubt that the cloud will be the predominant platform for public safety applications. Even legacy on-premise systems will be interconnected with a myriad of cloud-resident services including the NG9-1-1 communications backbone of emergency response. The benefits of scale and connectivity are not only economic but also functional. Shared multi-tenant systems really do enable public safety providers to do more with less..."

Intrado Launches Co-location & Transport Service for Public Safety

I-CAT is a reliable and secure cloud-based service for partners in the Intrado A9-1-1 Alliance Member Program and companies focused on solutions for public safety agencies in the United States. I-CAT delivers co-location, hosting and secure, private network transport services in one affordable, convenient package designed specifically for the stringent requirements of public safety.

Is There a Place for Social Media in Public Safety?

The Internet is public. Even when comments or posts are sent directly to a specific distribution group or only shared with “friends” there is nothing stopping these individuals from forwarding, re-posting, or sharing with others. There is nothing more embarrassing than complaining about a co-worker (or your boss) only to have them eventually receive and read your comments.

Jaguar Pounces on Child Predators

Consumers of child pornography break the law when they download photos and videos from file-sharing networks. But police are more concerned with the porn producers uploading the files. Every new posting means a child is in harm's way. To accelerate the acquisition of information needed to arrest child predators, law enforcement officers have teamed with data analytics experts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a project that will use Jaguar, one of the world's fastest supercomputers, to...

LAwS Communications to Lead First Global Police Tweet-A-Thon

On March 22, starting at 8 a.m., law enforcement agencies around the world will connect via Twitter to participate in a 24-hour Tweet-a-thon to bring attention to the use of social media by law enforcement. Agencies will tweet using the same hashtag, #poltwt, to create awareness about police work and issues police face as well as to promote the use of social media in policing.

MobileTrec Announces SafeKidZone Mobile Child Protection App

Los Angeles-based company, MobileTrec, has launched SafeKidZone, a mobile personal security network based on a mobile phone application that places a "Panic Button" on kids' cell phones which can rapidly connect to 9-1-1.

Nassau County (NY) PD Leverages LexisNexis Solution to Improve Citizen Services

LexisNexis Risk Solutions has announced that the Nassau County (NY) Police Department has implemented an electronic crash reporting system that will drive internal efficiencies and improve services provided to the citizens of Nassau County. The new system enables the Nassau County PD to fully automate its accident reporting process, allowing its citizens to review and print reports electronically over the Internet.

Navigating the Portal to Public Safety Communications

We hope you've found 9-1-1 Magazine's new incarnation as emergency communications' first Web Portal valuable and informative. We've tried very hard to provide the same sense of articulate vision and presentation about public safety communications technology and operations that we did in nearly a quarter century of existence as a print publication...

New Mobile App Helps Citizens Report Crimes by email

CrimePush has launched an innovative new crime-reporting and personal safety app for the iPhone and Android marketplace. With a few intuitive clicks, community members can now report crimes, medical emergencies, or other threatening situations to their local authorities at the push of a button. Because of the smartphone's unique capabilities this app can discretely send alerts that include detailed GPS coordinates, photos, text, and even video.

NG9-1-1: The Changing Face of Emergency Calling

What public safety leaders need to know about how to make the move to next-generation 9-1-1 services, and how best to take advantage of the benefits these services provide... Through the Next Generation 9-1-1 initiative (NG9-1-1) initiative,PSAPS are looking to incorporate new technical capabilities. Yet being able to tie Emergency Services IP Networks (ESInets) to legacy networks, and ensuring that PSAPs can handle video, streaming, data, texting and voice, plus obtain the location of a...

Password Please: The Place of Social Media in Hiring Decisions

Recently the Internet has been all a-twitter about numerous reports of employers requesting social media passwords from prospective and current employees... While on the surface this practice seems a shocking violation of personal space and freedoms, there are others who would argue that valuable information concerning hiring decisions can be gained in this manner... Let's take a closer look at the issue; especially as it applies to public safety communications.

Public Safety Agencies in Utah Team Up to Improve 9-1-1 Services

The Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center (VECC) announced that several counties in Utah have taken the initiative to provide the first IP-capable 9-1-1 call delivery system in the state. Intrado and CenturyLink will offer an emergency service number (ESN)-based ESInet for all 9-1-1 wireline and wireless call handling and routing; IP-based Intrado VIPER call processing equipment; and a common database for call routing and mapping systems that display caller location. This new...

Reducing Crime, Increasing Community: New Neighborhood Social Network Helps

Across America, neighborhoods are turning to a new neighborhood social network to communicate with neighbors, trade goods, borrow gardening tools, find lost pets, cut back on crime and respond to emergencies. Nextdoor is a new, free and secure social network designed to connect neighbors with each other and build community.

Role of Social Media in Law Enforcement Significant and Growing

LexisNexis Risk Solutions has announced the results of a comprehensive survey focused on the impact of social media on law enforcement in criminal investigations. The survey revealed that currently four out of five respondents use various social media platforms to assist in investigations and found agencies serving smaller populations and with fewer sworn personnel (<50) use social media more, while state agencies tend to use it less (71%) than local (82%) and federal (81%) agencies.

Santa Monica Police Department to Host Social Media the Internet and Law Enforcement Conference

On January 10-12, 2011, Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) will host the second Social Media the Internet and Law Enforcement (SMILE) Conference at the RAND Center in Santa Monica to discuss the use of social media to improve law enforcement, community engagement and crime prevention.

SkyMail for the Public Safety Community

Most people would agree that communications within a Police Department is critical to the daily and safe operation of any community. An unfortunate trend has caught on, though, perhaps in response to tight municipal budgets and officer layoffs... Recognizing that a more effective and safe solution would significantly increase the speed and accuracy of communications from the field, PDV took the lead by creating an application called SkyMail, which allows police officers to quickly and...

Smart911Connect Provides Solution Providers and App Developers a Method for Delivering Data to 9-1-1

Rave Mobile Safety, creators of the national public safety database Smart911, has announced Smart911Connect, the first program connecting third parties holding data relevant to the emergency response process with supported 9-1-1 centers. Call takers and dispatchers within Smart911 connected public safety answering points (PSAPs) across the country can now automatically receive approved sources of data, including text and images, delivered to their workstation in real-time alongside a 9-1-1...

Social Media in a 9-1-1 World

Looking beyond the processing of emergency requests, social media can easily be implemented and utilized for various functions to support a PSAP... Most agencies have some component of community policing,fire prevention, communications, or interactive community involvement in their strategic plans. These are excellent areas that can be enhanced by social media because they primarily require dissemination of information from the agency to the public.

St. Clair County (IL) Upgrades to Tiburon CAD and Deploys in the Cloud

St. Clair County, Illinois has successfully upgraded to and deployed Tiburon CAD in the Company's secure-cloud computing environment. The success of the solution's deployment provided St. Clair County with confidence to add Tiburon Law RMS into the mix.

Synergem Announces Addition of EvolutionISR Interactive Session Recording

A carrier-grade Interactive Session Recorder (ISR), EvolutionISR is specifically designed to overcome the unique challenges associated with capturing, securing, archiving and managing interactive session recordings in IP telephony environments. As NG9-1-1 brings broadband communications capabilities to 9-1-1 call centers, with video, text and other data delivered and utilized as part of the 9-1-1 call handling process, EvolutionISR will ensure that all these data are captured, recorded and...

Thales launches Long Term Evolution solution for US public safety community

Thales has launched its new end-to-end integrated and distributed Long Term Evolution (LTE) solution for the US public safety market. Thales's LTE solution is the only network with a corresponding push-to-talk smart phone that offers a fully distributed architecture for the public safety and first responder communities.

The New 9-1-1 Portal

For more than 23 years, 9-1-1 MAGAZINE provided valuable information, enhancing the performance of our public-safety communications professionals. Recent changes in the economic atmosphere brought the suspension of our print version.

The Online Manager: Challenges of the Digital Age

Having written the Communication Manager's column for 9-1-1 Magazine for the past 15 years, I now look forward to making the transition to the web from print. While I have already had a few columns posted here, these were actually leftovers that had been waiting publication. So, from this month forward I'll be able to take advantage of the immediacy of the web and post content that is truly fresh.

The Rise of Cybercrime and What Law Enforcement Needs to Know About Protecting Sensitive Data

Public safety professionals continue to adopt new technologies that allow them to monitor potentially dangerous or illegal activities and gain access to information that improves their ability to do their job, and the quality of the services being provided. However, municipalities that purchase and implement these technologies are often at risk themselves from hidden vulnerabilities that can be exploited by cyber criminals. Thus, sensitive data that is necessary for reporting crime and...

TriTech Software Systems Partners with Nlets to Introduce a Cloud-based Public Safety Intelligence Application

TriTech Software Systems has announced its strategic partnership with Nlets as its hosting services provider for TriTech.com IQ, the cloud-based version of its award-winning Inform IQ public safety intelligence solution. As the premier, trusted interstate justice and public safety data transmission network, Nlets provides a highly secure and reliable hosting facility for TriTech.com cloud-based services.

Vendor's Corner: Technology and Emergency 9-1-1 Operations

As the last ten years have seen huge advancements in the communication technologies we use in our everyday connected lifestyles with smart phones, tablet PCs, netbooks, and the like, there has also been a paradigm shift in how we gather, consume and disseminate information. No longer must we rely on the media for telling us what is happening around the world, but we now can plug directly into news channels via social media outlets, situational awareness alerting services, blogs, etc. to...

Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board Launches Statewide Text to 9-1-1 Trial for Emergency Help

Beginning April 18th, Verizon Wireless customers can send a text message to 9-1-1 from locations in Vermont for emergency help as part of a six-month trial to test the potential of this technology. From now until October 15, 2012, the Williston Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) will accept 9-1-1 text messages from Verizon Wireless customers as part of a collaboration among the Vermont Enhanced 9-1-1 Board, Verizon Wireless and Intrado

Zetron's MAX Dispatch Now Provides Direct IP Connection to NEXEDGE

Zetron, a leading provider of mission-critical communications solutions worldwide, announced that it is now shipping a new version of its MAX Dispatch system that includes a direct IP connection to Kenwood's NEXEDGE digital trunking system.