Charlotte County 9-1-1

Did you know that in February of 2020 that Kari’s law went into effect nationally?   Kari’s Law requires all multi-line telephone system (MLTS) owners to program their systems so that a user can dial “9-1-1” to reach emergency services without having to dial “9” or some other number first.  Multi-line telephone systems are typically found in office buildings, hotels, hospitals, airports, etc.   In addition to Kari’s Law, is Ray Baum’s Act that requires that street address of the calling party, plus additional information such as suite, apartment or similar information also known as “dispatchable location” to be conveyed via the telephone system when calling 9-1-1.   If you are an owner of a MLTS and have not yet made these changes, please review the links provided below and ensure that your system complies.

FCC on Kari’s Law & Ray Baum’s Act

National 911 Office on Kari’s Law & Ray Baum’s Act

Both Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and Punta Gorda Police Dept 9-1-1 Centers are using a secure web-based platform through Rapid SOS that allows access to emergency data via applications completed by the phone owner. This data is only provided by you when you create a profile and allow sharing of this information. 

• If you are an Apple user, you can access your Medical ID profile through the iPhone Health App.
• Another option is to sign up with the Emergency Health Profile Association at emergencyprofile.org. The Emergency Health Profile is brought to you in partnership with the American Heart Assn, Red Cross, Direct Relief and Rapid SOS.

Users of these profiles, regardless of profile platform, are responsible for maintaining their own data and keeping it up to date. 9-1-1 centers will only have access to information of individuals who choose to participate, complete their profiles and then make a 9-1-1 call. 9-1-1 staff do not have access to information without the device having called 9-1-1.  When a 9-1-1 call is received in the center, AND IF, the information is provided, the telecommunicator may ask to confirm the information to ensure it is accurate and relative to the caller.  

Charlotte County 9-1-1 centers have been using this web-based platform called Rapid SOS Portal since late 2018. At the time of inception, the Rapid SOS Clearing House provided improved location accuracy of many cellular 911 callers. This technology has proven to be very useful in finding callers in an emergency.  Since the 9-1-1 centers adoption of this platform, the Rapid SOS Clearing House has been working diligently to deliver additional data rich information that can improve public safety emergency response.  Rapid SOS has been partnering with a variety of companies to enhance the information that can be delivered to 9-1-1 centers. 

We will be watching for additional future applications that will be shared with our public safety agencies through the Rapid SOS Platform and pass this information along to the members of our community.  If you have any questions about these programs and about 9-1-1 here in Charlotte County, reach out to the E911 Office at 941-575-5339. 

With the growing attention related to the COVID-19 outbreak we understand here at the Charlotte County E911 Office that citizens may be looking to all sources for information and direction to include the Charlotte County E911 web page. To that end, we wanted to provide some links that might be helpful and to let you know what steps are being taken to keep our citizens and staff safe during this time.

Center for Disease Control (CDC)  – Information  on how to protect yourself and what to do if you think you are sick.

Center for Disease Control (CDC) – Travel Advisories

Florida Department of Health – What you need to know about COVID-19 in Florida.

If you have further questions related to COVID-19  Contact 866-779-6121

In the event that you require medical attention and need to call 9-1-1, you may find that our operators ask a few additional questions. These questions will provide a better understanding of the situation which will allow our responders to be better prepared prior to arriving on scene.  Any additional questions that will be asked have been approved by the Medical Director.  Based on the responses to these questions, operators may provide additional instruction.  We ask for your patience during the questioning process as these questions are essential for citizen and responder safety.

Both,Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and Punta Gorda Police Department’s 9-1-1 Centers are taking the COVID-19 situation  seriously. Keeping our telecommunicators healthy is critical to maintaining a quality level of service for our citizens. The centers are  taking precautions and have back up plans in place.

Thank you for your continued patience and it is our wish that you and your families remain healthy during this event.

Laurie Anderson

E911 Manager

Celebrating 50 Years of 9-1-1

Today the 9-1-1 industry celebrates a very important day in history. On February 16, 1968, Senator Rankin Fite made the first 9-1-1 call in the United States in Haleyville, Alabama. Several years later, 9-1-1 became the nationally recognized number for accessing emergency services and today hundreds of millions of 9-1-1 calls are made across the country each year. Charlotte County alone, receives over 85,000 9-1-1 calls.

Over the past 50 years, significant strides have been made to improve 9-1-1 service but keeping up with the rapidly changing technology can be quite a struggle in the public sector. Members of the 9-1-1 industry are continuously working towards development of 9-1-1 technology and standards that will meet the needs of the system users.  Keeping up with the technology, is not the only challenge. One of the biggest challenges in bringing these technologies to the table is funding. Industry representatives are working hard to bring awareness to the new technologies and the challenges that are being faced every day regarding 9-1-1.

This week, 9-1-1 industry representatives are attending an annual event “9-1-1 Goes to Washington” This event is designed to educate attendees about the legislative and regulatory issues surrounding 9-1-1 and allow the attendees opportunities to share their knowledge and experiences with congressional leaders in an effort to advancing the future of 9-1-1.

For more information regarding on the history of 9-1-1 and modernizing what is currently in place, click on the hyperlinks.

On Monday, March 27, 2017 a local media channel reported that Charlotte County was currently accepting text to 911.  Contact was made with the media channel to advise them that this statement was inaccurate. The media may have gotten Charlotte County mixed up with another nearby county who is accepting text to 911. This article is being posted to provide readers with an update on the status of text to 911 in Charlotte County at this time.

There are multiple stages to implementation of text as there is with any other 911 technology. The first step was to obtain the necessary equipment and software that provided the ability for integrated text to 911. This was achieved in May 2016.  Currently Charlotte County is in the process of contracting with the service provider, setting up engineering and notification of carriers. Future steps will include field testing, standard operating procedure development, training for telecommunicators and public education.

A very critical step in this process public education as this method of reaching 911 is for those individuals that are hearing or speech impaired or those individuals who are in distress and are unable to speak. For those that can hear and speak, it is preferred that they make an actual telephone call with voice.

Currently in the State of Florida, approximately 1/4 of the counties are able to accept text. Many of those that do not have text are working on it and may somewhere in the various stages listed above. Each county is responsible for implementation of text while the initiative is supported by the Florida E911 Board. More information regarding the Statewide Text to 911 Initiative can be located on the Florida Department of Management Services Enhanced 911 www.dms.myflorida.com/business_operations/telecommunications/enhanced_911

Sarasota and Collier Counties are accepting text whereas Charlotte and Lee do not. If you are a person who relies on text services, check with the county you are staying in to learn about their capabilities.

At 0542 hours on the morning of January the 8th, Charlotte County E911 experienced a 911 outage that affected both Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and Punta Gorda Police Departments 911 centers ability to receive and answer 911 calls. When notified of the situation, all 911 calls were immediately re-routed to the Lee County 911 Center. 911 calls were returned to Charlotte Co with a one button transfer and all calls were dispatched immediately.  Charlotte County 911 was returned to a normal state at 1047 hours. There were no reports of delays or missed calls during this time period. Charlotte County and Lee Counties have an agreement in place since 2014 for emergency situations such as these. In any type of 911 network whether it be a traditional or IP, failures can happen. Charlotte County has taken measures to insure that calls do not go unanswered in the event of network or equipment failure.

In the case on Jan the 8th, the 911 disruption was a result of a circuit failure that occurred off site. Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office and Punta Gorda Police Department had an upgrade of on site 911 equipment in May of 2016 and there were no issues with this equipment during the failure.  Charlotte County E911 is working with the 911 service provider, West Safety Services, to avert such failures in the future.

Laurie Anderson

E911 Coordinator

Some say effective leadership is a learned skill, while others claim leadership to be inherited. Maybe it’s a little bit of both. Regardless of the view point, there is no doubt that the following two individuals are proven leaders in their field and have been striving to perfect those skills. Nancy Morris of the Punta Gorda Police Department Communications Division and Melanie Bailey of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Communications Division have recently attended reputable leadership courses.

In September of 2014 Communications Supervisor Nancy Morris graduated from the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute’s (FCJEI) Florida Leadership Academy. The Florida Leadership Academy prepares first-line supervisors in criminal justice organizations to exemplify the character and integrity expected of criminal justice professionals. The program also examines the various components necessary to be an effective leader. Nancy was among 33 other law enforcement professionals to graduate from the Academy, which was held at Broward College’s Institute of Public Safety in Davie, Florida.

In August of 2014 Communications Administrator, Melanie Bailey graduated from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Leadership in Police Organization Course. The IACP-LPO program is based on a behavioral science approach to leading people, groups, change and organizations.  Students are taught leader strategies for use in dealing with practical work place challenges. The course teaches participants the behavioral science theories to better understand how to lead individuals, groups, change, and organizations. Participants are challenged to use the theories and strategies taught to increase the motivation, satisfaction and performance within their organization and to support organizational change.

Congratulations to the both of them for their accomplishments!

Nancy Morris, Punta Gorda Police Department Communications

Melanie Bailey, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Communications Administrator

Some of you have already heard the buzz regarding text to 9-1-1 becoming available in portions of the United States and most recently in Collier County, FL.  The overall intent of this post is to provide you with a basic understanding of how this is being implemented and provide you with information regarding the plan for Charlotte County.

The four major cellular carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) had made a commitment to the FCC to provide text to 9-1-1 services.  Text to 9-1-1 services could be provided in one of three methods, TTY/TDD which is a device used by the hearing impaired, web browser, or via IP (Internet Protocol).  In the state of Florida it is at the discretion of each PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) regarding how they are going to accept the text services.  Each of the three methods has its limitations and some require infrastructure upgrades or modifications. Modifications to software and hardware can also be very costly for some counties.

Taking into consideration these benefits, limitations and Infrastructure requirements Charlotte County E911 is working towards being able to receive text via the latter of the three options, IP (internet protocol). Charlotte County is one of the very few counties in the State of Florida that has had an opportunity to make advancements towards Next Generation 9-1-1 Technologies. Most are currently using the legacy 9-1-1 technology.

Charlotte County currently receives 9-1-1 calls via an IP Network Service (Intrado). In order to receive text to 9-1-1 via the IP Network will require an upgrade to the telephone equipment (hardware and software) in the two dispatch centers and backup center.  Due to the age of the telephone equipment currently in use, upgrades to hardware and software would be necessary regardless of the intent to move forward with text to 9-1-1.  Keeping this in mind, for Charlotte County, it makes sense to combine efforts with upgrading equipment and move forward with text to 9-1-1 via the IP network.

The process of upgrading the equipment, software and implementing text to 9-1-1 is not quick process as there are funding issues, choosing a vendor, hardware/software installation, making requests to the carriers, standard operating procedure development, and telecommunicator training.  The ball is already rolling in the right direction however implementation is expected to take place tentatively by the 2^nd or 3^rd quarter of the 2015 calendar year.

Until text to 9-1-1 can be implemented in Charlotte County, those that attempt to reach 9-1-1 via text will receive a bounce back message stating that that text to 9-1-1 is not available. At that point, the caller would need to place a voice call.  Please check the E911 website for further developments regarding this topic.

Related reading:

http://www.fcc.gov/text-to-911

http://www.governing.com/columns/tech-talk/gov-can-you-read-me-now.html

http://psc.apcointl.org/2014/06/17/verizon-customers-will-now-be-able-to-text-9-1-1-in-collier-county-fla/