APRIL 2015

Regional telecommunicators recognized on April 17

The Kansas City Regional 9-1-1 system honored emergency communications personnel at the 18th Annual Telecommunicators Appreciation Celebration on Friday, April 17, at the Kansas City Airport Marriott.

View photos of this year's celebration.

The event honors the dedicated emergency communications personnel responsible for answering nearly 2 million 9-1-1 calls each year in the Greater Kansas City region.
More than 350 public safety personnel from 21 public safety agencies attended the celebration.

Outstanding Performance Awards were presented to the following individuals:

• Everyday Hero Award: Zachary Hodges, Johnson County Sheriff's Office.
• Outstanding Individual Performance in a Critical Incident: Teri Sandlin, Blue Springs Police Department.
• Outstanding Team Performance in a Critical Incident: Erica Diviney, Hollie Meeks, Taylor Mills, Jennifer Patton and Amanda Rank, Kansas City, Kansas Police Department.
• Outstanding Supervisory Performance: Eileen Swatzell, Independence Police Department.
• Outstanding Training Performance: Danny Crockett and Larry Henderson, Kansas City Missouri Police Department.
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Walt Way, Johnson County Emergency Communications.

The celebration was held the Friday of National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week — a time to honor the unsung heroes who staff the nation's 9-1-1 centers and other emergency dispatch locations. Congratulations to this year's award recipients!

Independence Police Department, North Kansas City Police Department and Jackson County Sheriff’s Office upgrade to
Vesta equipment

The Communications Division of the Independence Police Department, Jackson County Sheriff's Office and the North Kansas City Police Department are the most recent to upgrade to the new Vesta (formerly called Patriot) equipment. Currently, 21 PSAPs in the region have completed equipment and software upgrades. PSAPs that have completed upgrades to the newest software and equipment now have faster computers and are operating on a regionally owned microwave system. Also, these upgrades help the communications centers prepare for the transition to Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) capability.

While the upgrades provide improved equipment for PSAPs, this transition also provides cost savings for the region. As PSAPs upgrade to Vesta equipment, their network connection will be transitioned from leased T1 circuits to regionally owned microwave. The microwave system provides upgraded bandwidth capabilities, making data transmission faster and reducing reliance on outside providers.

The Vesta upgrades also mean fewer controllers will be needed on the regional 9-1-1 system. Currently, there are three Vesta host servers in the MARC region. Johnson County Communications Center houses one host; a second host is located at the Kansas City Missouri Police Department South Patrol station; and a third host is located at the Kansas City Missouri Police Department main office.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Gladstone Department of Public Safety, Liberty Police Department and the Pleasant Valley Police Department are the next PSAPs scheduled for upgrades.

Region starts testing text-to-9-1-1 capabilities

In June 2014, MARC's Public Safety Communications Program submitted requests for texting services on behalf of 33 primary regional PSAPs. MARC staff completed preliminary testing with the four major wireless carriers — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — and established a test plan for PSAPs throughout the region.

On Dec. 5, PSAP supervisors and staff attended two texting orientations. For individuals that were not able to attend the training orientations, training videos are available through the intranet on PSAP consoles.

PSAPs in the MARC region will use the TTY option for text delivery, because this technology is more cost effective than alternative options and it allows dispatchers to transfer text calls internally and to neighboring PSAPs.

While text-to-9-1-1 technology will be available in the near future, multimedia messaging options will not be available until all equipment upgrades are completed and wireless carriers are prepared. Outreach and education to citizens in the region will begin once all PSAPs have finished testing and training for text-to-9-1-1 services.

Missouri 9-1-1 funding bill presented to both chambers

The 2015 Missouri legislative session is in progress and two complementary bills, one from the House and one from the Senate, are being considered to provide necessary funding for 9-1-1 service. Missouri State Representative Jeanie Lauer introduced House Bill 714 and Missouri State Senator Wayne Wallingford introduced Senate Bill 409. These two bills give counties the option, with local voter approval, to add a small surcharge to monthly cell phone bills to pay for 9-1-1 service.

Under current Missouri law, most of the burden of paying for 9-1-1 services falls on landline customers. Cell phone users don't currently pay for 9-1-1 service, even though 70 percent of 9-1-1 calls placed today come from cell phones. Missouri is the only state in the union that does not levy any type of fee on cell phone users to help support 9-1-1.

Under HB 714 and SB 409, counties could propose ballot issues that, if approved by local voters, would allow monthly fees of up to $1.50 to be charged on any device capable of contacting 9-1-1. These fees would be paid as part of the user's monthly bill, and used solely for the purpose of funding 9-1-1 services. Counties that use this option would eliminate the current surcharge on landline phones.

The House of Representatives passed HB 714 by a vote of 123 to 32 on Wednesday, April 22, and SB 409 is currently on the Senate calendar. Leadership from public safety and emergency services agencies in the Kansas City region have provided educational materials to elected officials to reinforce the need for adequate 9-1-1 funding.

Error report submission contest

The MARC Public Safety Communications Program is pleased to announce that the 2015 PSAP error report contest will begin in June. Similar to last year, MARC will announce two winners. One winner will be based on the PSAP with the highest number of valid error reports, divided by the submitting PSAP's call volume. The second contest winner will be based on the total valid PSAP error reports for the month of June.

Contest Rules:

• Contest runs from June 1 through
  June 30.
• Participants can only submit errors identified during the course of handling a 9-1-1 call.
• Dispatchers and telecommunicators can enter all database or map errors using Info Manager on a 9-1-1 workstation, or follow your agency's procedure for submitting errors.

This contest is more than a friendly competition, it is also an opportunity to help clean up the region's 9-1-1 database and map data — which could make telecommunicators job easier when handling a call and could potentially help public safety agencies provide faster response times to citizens in need. MARC Public Safety staff will announce a winner in early July.

2015 calendar competition award recipients

Each month of the 2015 MARC Public Safety Communications Program training calendar includes a picture of a historical site or location in the Kansas City region. Between the first and 10th of each month, MARC accepts contest submissions identifying the location of the historical photo. Individiuals who correctly identify the location are entered into a drawing. The winner is announced on the 20th of each month and receives a $15 Starbucks gift card.

The following individuals won a 2015 training calendar photo identification contest:

Please check your inbox for photo identification contest email notifications and thank you to everyone who has participated over the past few months.

Maintenance Services

If your issue requires immediate attention please call 816-421-2911 any time day or night.

In non-emergency situations, you may email maintenance requests or questions to 911techs@marc.org or call 816-421-2911.

Remember, it is important to reboot your 9-1-1 workstations at least once each week, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., when a MARC communications technician is available in case you experience any problems. This will automatically update the GeoLynx map data on your workstation.

Upcoming Training Opportunities

June 9: 9-1-1 Crisis Calls

June 11: Officer Down and Firefighter Mayday!

June 15–18: Communications Training Officer (CTO)

June 23: TTY Training

June 25: Metropolitan Area Regional Radio System (MARRS) User Training

July 7: Managing Negativity in the Workplace

July 9: 9-1-1 Customer Service

July 23: Interoperable Communications

July 28: Call Interrogation

July 30: 9-1-1 Liability

See a complete list of upcoming
9-1-1 training opportunities and GTI courses included in the 9-1-1 training consortium membership.

Special Events and Trainings

May 21: Professional Development Series — Active Assailant: The Telecommunicator as the First Incident Commander

PSAP Managers Forum

The PSAP Managers Forum is an excellent resource for managers and supervisors to share and exchange ideas, concerns and suggestions.

Have a story you want to share?

Email Paul Lampe or call
816-701-8366.