From the Director 1

News 2 Use 2

9-1-1 Panhandle Hero

Public Education News

Meet Your Neighbors

3

3

4-5

National TCO Week

Training Corner

Important Contacts

6

7

8

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

9-1-1

NOW

A warm Spring greeting’s from the PRPC 9-1-1 staff! I hope this newsletter finds

you thawed and ready for April showers and May flowers! Things are beginning to “blossom” for the 9-1-1 Network. As you are aware, every 9-1-1 call center in the

Panhandle regional program now has its new 9-1-1 call-taking equipment. For the most part, the “heavy lifting” part of the project is complete. Mike, Ethan, Gary and

others are “fine tuning” the equipment and working on additional features relating

to automated map updates, reporting, and network security.

In the coming weeks, some of the additional benefits you’ll see include: Regional MIS (Management Information Systems) – giving you the ability to

create reports regarding 9-1-1 at your agency.

XDC Fax Functionality – fax call information and maps automatically with a

right click. Aerial imagery – digital color aerial photos of your county as a configurable

map layer that you will be able to “zoom” in to. See the example of the

Pampa Regional Medical Center.

I want to thank those of you who have put up with our presence and mess as the

equipment was being installed. We will be back soon to replace the UPS (battery backup) system soon, so you haven’t seen the last of Mike!

Thanks again for you assistance and don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions or need any assistance.

From the Director

2009

SPRING

2010

Greg Green, Regional 9-1-1 Director

Page 2

UTILIZING THE 9-1-1 SYSTEM TO SAVE A LIFE! Technology and quick thinking by Hereford Police Dispatcher Julia Laing are being credited for

stopping a domestic violence assault in its tracks.

According to police reports, Julia received a 9-1-1 call shortly after 9 a.m. one morning last December. The caller could not talk or respond to any questions. Still, Julia could hear what appeared to be the sounds of an

argument and an assault taking place.

The 9-1-1 system registered the phone call as a wireless call and gave no address to the location of the call. For-tunately, the caller did not hang up the phone and Julia was able to utilize the 9-1-1 system to re-bid the call and activate another Ali request. This gave the computer better information and the approximate location of the

phone plotted on the 9-1-1 map.

The officers converged on the area where the phone plotted. While searching the area, they heard sounds of an argument and followed the screams to a

home close by.

“We were able to get the location within 100 yds of the incident.” Julia said of

the 9-1-1 equipment.

Officers, who could now clearly hear the argument transpiring inside the resi-dence, repeatedly attempted to gain entry before deciding to break down the

door “to stop or prevent any assault to the victim.”

Once inside, they found a male standing in the kitchen and the victim hiding

inside the bathroom.

The victim told officers that she was able to dial 9-1-1, but because of the sus-pects location inside the home, she could not talk on the phone. She simply

hid the phone inside her clothing with the line open.

According to the report, the victim was physically assaulted by the suspect before the officers arrived. She got

away from the suspect and hid in the bathroom where she was able to call 9-1-1.

The suspect was arrested and booked into the Deaf Smith County Jail where he faces a charge of

Domestic Violence.

“Julia, through her training and experience was able to coordinate this response,” said Sgt. Robin Ruland. “She

did a wonderful job.”

As sophisticated as the 9-1-1 system is, it will not work if the wireless phone is hug up. Julia was fortunate that

the victim stayed on the line so that a re-bid, or retransmission of the Ali information was available.

The Regional 9-1-1 Crew would like to congratulate Julia on a JOB WELL DONE!

Julia Laing

SPRING 2010

Red E Fox gives Pam Frisk

a hug during a 9-1-1

Awards Ceremony. Red E

has been the past TX 9

-1-1 Mascot for many

years.

Say “HELLO” to the newest

TX 9-1-1 Mascot,

Sally the Cell Phone!

Don’t forget about our Regional 9-1-1 Mascot, Andy the Ambu-

lance. There are always opportunities for us to bring him out for

some public education. Please let us know if have an activity

coming up so we can get him of the garage to stretch his wheels!

My Name is Patricia Henderson, (Tricia ) and I have

worked for Oldham County Sheriff’s Office as

dispatcher/jailer for 20 years.

I have been Chief Dispatcher for 6 years and I still

look forward to going to work each day.

I was an EMT from 1988 thru 1996 and volunteered

for the Vega Ambulance Service. I am married to Bill,

and have been married for 39 years. We have three

grown children and 5 grandchildren. I enjoy spending time with my family, reading,

and camping trips.

Thank you, Tricia, for your past and future years of service

to 9-1-1 !

Greg and Allison Green along

with Pam and Josh Frisk passed

out over 3000 9-1-1 public

education items at the 2010

Make a Wish Car Show!

SPRING 2010

This is Lonny Leinenweaver. He has been at Carson for approximately three months. He too is a Communications/Corrections Officer. This is the first such job that Lonny has had. He’s from California where he was a security officer in a casino. He has adapted well and is enjoying the adrenalin of the job. His only difficulty seems to be getting us laid back, slow talking Texans to understand his fast California ‘speed talking’. Lonny hopes one day to become a peace officer and there’s not a better way to decide if this ‘business’ is right for you than to be a dispatcher/jailer.

This is OLIVIA GONZALEZ. Olivia is the Senior Communications/Corrections Officer for Carson CO SO. Not only is Olivia awe-some on the radio, but she was a firefighter for many years and fought the Panhandle wildfires of 2006. Olivia has recently become engaged and we wish her well.

This is Judy Lopez. Judy is a sergeant over Communications and Corrections. She has been at Carson County for nearly six years and has been a sergeant for one year of that. Prior to working for the Sheriff’s

Office, she was with the Texas Department of Corrections.

**Funny story** : Judy answered a 911 call last year of a female needing an ambulance in Groom. According to the caller the high Texas Panhandle winds had literally blown the woman down causing her to be injured. The caller told Judy that the woman was covered in blood and dirt. When Judy dispatched the call she combined the words blood and dirt and stated that the injured woman was covered in ‘blirt’. Saved time I

guess!

This is Ronda Denny. She has over twelve years of dispatching experience; including ten years with Randall County Sheriff’s Office. Ronda has been a Communications Operator/Corrections Officer at Carson SO for four years. As a combination dispatcher/jailer Ronda not only handles, 911 calls but also multiple incoming calls from the administrative phones, dispatches for a variety of agencies and keeps up with the inmate population.

**Not pictured is Kalee Massey and new hire Timothy Rodriguez.**

PAGE

4

SPRING 2010

Konnie Washington – 13 years this September.

Patricia McKiddy – 6 months.

Raquel Lindner – 8 months.

Marcella Martinez – Will be 2 years in July.

Melissa Buckner – 8 months as full time, worked relief for 8 months.

PAGE 5

Each year, the second full week of April is dedicated to the men and women who serve as public safety telecom-

municators. It was first conceived by Patricia Anderson of the Contra Costa County (Calif.) Sheriff's Office in 1981

and was observed only at that agency for three years. Members of the Virginia and North Carolina chapters of the

Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) became involved in the mid-1980s. By the early

1990s, the national APCO organization convinced Congress of the need for a formal proclamation. Rep. Edward J.

Markey (D-Mass.) introduced what became H.J. Res. 284 to create "National Public Safety Telecommunicator

Week." According to Congressional procedure, it was introduced twice more in 1993 and 1994, and then became

permanent, without the need for yearly introduction.

The official name of the week when originally introduced in Congress in 1991 as "National Public Safety Telecom-

municators Week." In the intervening years, it has somehow become known by several other names, including

"National Public-Safety Telecommunications Week" and "International Public Safety Telecommunicator's Week."

The Congressional resolution also stated there were more than "500,000 telecommunications specialists," although

our estimate puts the number of dispatchers at just over 200,000. We expect the Congressional figure includes

support personnel and perhaps even those in the commercial sector of public safety communications.

Of course, you don't need NTW to honor your public safety dispatchers for excellence! You can write them a

commendation, mention their "good job" at a shift briefing, or just give them a pat on the back anytime.

However, if you need some ideas to celebrate NTW here is some things I’ve found:

Select a Dispatcher of the Year, by peers from among the public safety dispatchers.

Get the field employees involved—officers, deputies, firefighters, paramedics, etc…

Award Certificates of Appreciation to each dispatcher, signed by the mayor, chief, sheriff, or other official.

Create other perks for awards recipients such as a special parking space or even a plaque on the wall.

Create buttons, or other lapel-wear and distribute them during the week.

Print banners or posters and hold an open house for the public during the week.

Throw a potluck and celebrate yourselves-or better yet, have a day when the administration cooks for the

telecommunicators.

Create a photo opportunity for your local newspaper and educate the public on NTW, or profile your

telecommunicators for the paper with some of the incidents or lives that have been saved because of a tele-

communicator.

Don’t

Forget!

SPRING 2010

Page 7

SPRING 2010

See below the dates we have for upcoming classes. Please take advantage of any and all classes you can. This is the most training that has been offered in this area in years and the cost is free to anyone working at a law enforcement agency. If you have any questions about the classes or

would like to request a certain class, please contact: Pamela Frisk at pfrisk@theprpc.org

Crisis Communications #2120 (24 hours)

Friday & Saturday - 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Sunday - 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. March 26 - 28, 2010

Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125 Instructor: Pam Frisk & Lisa Lynn To Register contact Jeanetta Smiley @ 806-356-3681 or jksmiley@actx.edu

ADA/TTY (8 hours)

Thursday & Friday May 13 & 14, 2010 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125 Instructor: Celeste High To Register contact Jeanetta Smiley @ 806-356-3681 or jksmiley@actx.edu

PowerPhone (8 hours) 9-1-1 Liability

Wednesday June 2, 2010 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125

PowerPhone (8 hours) Protecting Law Enforcement Responders

Thursday June 3, 2010 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125

PowerPhone (8 hours) Non Emergency Call Handling

Friday June 4, 2010 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125

To register call Pamela Frisk at 806-372-3381 or pfrisk@theprpc.org

Amber, Blue and Silver Alert (4hours)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 8:00 a.m. to noon OR 1:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. Location: MK Brown Auditorium

1100 W Coronado Dr Pampa, TX Instructor: Sam Allen with DPS To register call Debbie McDonald at Pampa Police Department at 806-669-5700.

TLETS

Monday-Wednesday, April 12-14, 2010

8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Location: Randall County Sheriff’s Office

Instructor: DPS

To register contact John Hale @ john.hale@txdps.state.tx.us

Spanish for Telecommunicators (24 hours)

Tuesday - Thursday June 15-17, 2010 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

And

Wednesday - Friday July 28-30, 2010 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Location: AC West Campus Bldg. C, Room 125 Instructor: Art Lopez

To Register contact Jeanetta Smiley @ 806-356-3681 or jksmiley@actx.edu

IMPORTANT CONTACT INFORMATION

P. O. Box 9257

415 W. 8th Street

Amarillo, TX 79105

Phone: 806-372-3381 or

1-800-687-7911

911NOW

9-1-1 NOW

Need

a

map?

www.panhandlemaps.com

PHONE NUMBERS

Panhandle Regional 9-1-1 Network

Toll Free Number—1-800-687-7911

Office Number—806-372-3381

Office Fax Number—806-373-3286

For Emergencies After 5pm

Mike Peters—806-676-4284

Poison Control Center

1-800-222-1222

AT&T—9-1-1 Outages

1-866-722-3911

Railroad Emergencies

1-800-285-767

WEBSITES/IMPORTANT E-MAIL

ADDRESSES

Panhandle Regional 9-1-1 Network

www.theprpc.org

www.panhandlemaps.com

ggreen@theprpc.org

mpeters@theprpc.org

pfrisk@theprpc.org

Post Office Zip Code Lookup

http://zip4.usps.com/zip4

National Weather Service

www.srh.noaa.gov/ama

Commission on State Emergency Communications

www.911.state.tx.us

TO:

Spring 2010

Created by Pamela Frisk