911 is a JOKE!

...in Dutchess County, New York

This blog is dedicated to the Memory of Susan Meade. May she Rest in Peace. Susan was a beautiful woman who touched many around her. She will be missed.

This is part 1 of a multi-part blog roll that will investigate the 911 call handling in Dutchess County, New York. I believe 911 calls are public record. Does anyone know how to get 911 records pulled?

Here’s what happened: The other night I saw flashing lights coming into my front door. I thought it was nothing, but the flashing lights continued and continued… so I had a look out the front window. It was an ambulance... and the ambulance was driving slowly down the road. I thought something was wrong with one of my neighbors so I opened my front door. I was going to run to the ambulance to ask what they were looking for, but apparently they had found the house because they were pulling into my friend Don Meade’s driveway. Don’s mom, Susan, (she would not let me call her Mrs. Meade when I used to talk to her at karate) was very sick and in need of medical assistance. 911 could not find the house!

What!? Really? Don’t all those crazy taxes pay for this?

Is the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) master street address guide (MSAG) up to date? Who was the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) that routed the call? Who maintains the PS-ALI database? Why can’t first responders find a home in this neighborhood?

I believe the FCC is responsible for 911 services, but maybe someone could shed some light on the federal government’s involvement in the system. This blog has been e-mailed to the FCC. It would be great to hear from anyone in government on this blog. I have not asked for very much in my last 10 years of paying taxes in Dutchess County, but this is a very serious issue.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/911-services/

Don Meade of White’s Corner Lane has signed a petition to get this matter taken care of and the local government is going to have a meeting in a couple of weeks on this matter. It would be great to hear what Don Meade has to say about this topic after he goes through the mourning process of his mother.

To Regular Readers of My Blog:

I promise to put many technology references in my blog series as I explore the 911 service (many, many references would be even better, but I don’t want to set expectations too high.) 911 services are mired in business, politics, and law. I’m sure we will only scratch the surface, but I invite you on this journey of understanding 911 technologies. Since this blog is a Cisco UC blog, I will definitely talk about Cisco Emergency Responder extensively. I believe all public schools are responsible for using this product if they have Cisco IP Phones. Emergency calls must be identified to the classroom ensuring first responders can do what they do best, save lives.

And it would be very rude of me to post a blog on the day after Memorial Day w/o acknowledging everyone in public service! Thank you very much for your service! I would love to hear from any one of you and I promise to post a blog series in the future and dedicate it to you all!

Before we get 'our nerd ON', there is some preliminary material that should be covered so a full understanding of the "challenge" is seen. My understanding is, if there’s no public road, you are not allowed to put a mailbox into the ground and emergency services cannot find your house. The road is still considered private property and the builder is responsible for taking care of the road. O’Donnell & Sons Inc. (Sean O’Donnell) and his brother are the two developers in my neighborhood. They have been responsible for our snow plowing and road clean up. (Note, I'm not too pleased with how they handled my punch list, so that ought to indicate how I feel about my developer.)

Everyone in the neighborhood has received a letter from their town on our requirements to identify the numbers of our home on a reflector in front of the house. We all have our numbers on our homes, although in our rural town we put our mailboxes at the end of the road.

I’ll gladly comply with the town, but shouldn’t compliance with 911 requirements be the builder’s responsibility?

I’ve recently obtained my VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification in pursuit of the ultimate Data Center nerd’s dream: The VMware Certified Instructor (VCI) certification... I’m supposed to be working on VMware labs that Global Knowledge was nice enough to lend me right now… but I’m busy writing this blog because lives depend on it. You never know where passion or inspiration will come from… here’s my recommendation though… when it does… RUN WITH IT! Cisco UCS will be fun to teach eventually as well, but the safety of my community comes first!

Some of my previous 911 related blogs:
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/40236
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/40439

Who can we rely on in these matters?

Here are some Links on these issues, but first I’d like to share a song with a comical representation of the problem that seems to be plaguing the WCL neighborhood.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17y4y_public-enemy-911-is-a-joke_music

Song Lyrics:
http://www.publicenemy.com/index.php?page=page5&item=3&num=58

I listened to this Public Enemy song as a teenager. We all thought the song was fun, but I had no idea that my community would be plagued by this serious issue.

Enhanced 911 Technology (E-911)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_911

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
http://www.fcc.gov/pshs/services/911-services/

Please help me raise awareness over this issue.

The FCC can be reached via E-Mail or phone.

Fax: 1-866-418-0232
E-mail:

Cisco Emergency Responder (CER)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2113747382932799107#

Global Knowledge Cisco Emergency Responder Class
http://www.globalknowledge.com/training/course.asp?pageid=9&courseid=13503&catid=206&country=United+States

High Point Solutions - Cisco Gold Partner
http://www.highpoint.com/home.html

Department of Emergency Response
392 Creek Road
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Voice (845) 486-2080 Fax (845) 486-3998

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