DOWNEY PATRIOT: Sauter accepts new position

DOWNEY— Sitting behind a desk full of paperwork, Mark Sauter pours over local, state, and federal safety mandates.

Newly-appointed Deputy City Manager/Public Safety Emergency Operations Chief Sauter is starting out the New Year making sure the city of Downey is in compliance with the multitude of governing safety policies and procedures.

Sauter, 50, brings 30 years experience as a first responder to his new position. Joining the Downey Fire Department in 1979, he had been the fire chief since 2000.

The city’s public safety emergency operations position has sat empty since 2005, when its duties were divided up between different departments. After the September 2008 water contamination crisis, City Manager Gerald Caton sought to fill the position immediately.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: DuPage County public safety radio network considered

DuPage County public safety officials, whose personnel often are called upon to assist colleagues in neighboring towns during emergencies large and small, are working on a plan that would improve the lines of communication between police and fire agencies.

The DuPage County Emergency Telephone System Board has tentatively approved funding for a radio network that would allow police and fire personnel to interact more directly with their counterparts in other communities. The proposed network is targeted to be up and running for police by 2011 and fire departments by 2012.

The system would cost between $26 million and $29 million. If the system is approved, public safety personnel would be equipped with portable radios connected to a network of agencies.

FIERCE WIRELESS: CTIA, others urge FCC to ban low-power devices in 700 MHz band

The CTIA and several public safety groups wrote to the FCC on Monday and urged the commission to bar the sale or operation of low-power "auxiliary" devices in the 700 MHz spectrum. The groups said these devices would be "harmful" and would interfere with spectrum owners from fully using the spectrum.

BEACONCAST.COM: Reinhardt Eyes Public Safety School in N. Fulton

Everyone knows that North Fulton’s Public Safety services are among the best in the state. Now, the cities are planning to make the service even better with a proposed Public Safety Institute.

THE CITIZEN: Public safety communications agreement proposed

Coweta County commissioners agreed with Public Safety Director Dennis Hammond Feb. 2 and voted to make application to join the Western Area Regional Radio System (WARRS) group. If approved, the move will provide better public safety communications at a reduced cost.

WTHR: Super Bowl Host Committee Blog

Tampa, Florida - Among all the fans, media and players in Tampa for the Super Bowl this weekend are members of the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee. They're watching and learning from Tampa so they can make Indianapolis a great host city when the time comes.

UTICA OBSERVER-DISPATCH: State disaster center making progress

WHITESTOWN —After $6 million spent and years of delays, the state Disaster Preparedness Training Center managed to double its activity last year.

Now, it’s poised for a $2.5 million expansion project that would allow the newly accredited center to train thousands more emergency personnel each year on anti-terrorism techniques.

Still, the state’s sole preparedness center, whose proposed $5.6 million 2009-10 budget is increasing nearly 81 percent, has fallen far short of its hiring and training goals since opening three years ago.

KC STAR: Fixing public safety radio system looms as another big cost for KC

As if the Kansas City Council didn’t have enough financial headaches, it can add one more: the need for a multimillion-dollar public safety radio system.

NEWSDAY: NY criminal justice boss to lead homeland security

ALBANY, N.Y. - The commissioner of New York's Division of Criminal Justice Services will also take responsibility for homeland security issues, Gov. David Paterson said Monday.

Denise O'Donnell will replace current Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Michael Balboni, whose resignation becomes official Feb. 2. She will remain New York's criminal justice commissioner.

O'Donnell will oversee all homeland security and criminal justice agencies including criminal justice, the Office of Homeland Security, the Division of State Police, the Department of Corrections, the Division of Parole, and the State Emergency Management Office, among others.

NY TIMES: Public Safety Leader Expected to Resign

ALBANY (AP) — Michael A. L. Balboni, New York State’s deputy secretary for public safety, is expected to leave his post to work in the private sector.

Mr. Balboni, a Republican who served two Democratic governors, will finish his time in state government next week and take a job based in Washington.

His resignation is expected to be announced soon.

JOURNAL ONLINE: Public Safety Remodeling To Improve Communication

Renovation of the entire fourth floor of Rosemont Village Hall will likely be completed within three weeks resulting in the consolidation of all police and fire-related offices and a more efficient operation, according to Deputy Superintendent Donald Stephens III.

Remodeling work on the building's fourth floor has been underway for several weeks. The purpose of the project is to consolidate Public Safety offices that are currently on the building's first, second and fifth floors as well as the village's Higgins Road fire station into one central location at 9501 Devon Ave. Once the work is finished, the entire floor will house department command and administrative offices and support staff. That, said Stephens, will improve intra-department communication tremendously.

Specific work includes constructing several separate offices along the periphery of the floor and position cubicles in the center portion. Department records, crime prevention, fire prevention, special services and detectives will occupy much of the space.

"It will make things a lot easier for all of us," Stephens explained. "Now if I have to talk to someone on the fifth floor, I have to go up there."

Village Board members on Jan. 7 approved spending $114,250 for fourth floor electrical work.

LIVINGSTON COMMUNITY NEWS: Donald Arbic promoted to emergency management director

On a 9-0 vote Tuesday, the Livingston County Board of Commissioners named Donald Arbic as director of central dispatch and emergency management, effective April 1. He will succeed Dick Winsett, who will be retiring at the end of March.

It marks a promotion for Arbic, who currently serves as the central dispatch operations director. The county personnel committee was directed to establish the pay grade for Arbic's new position.

"(Arbic) is well thought of in his peer group; the police chiefs and other public safety entities are supportive of him," said Dave Domas of Tyrone Township, who chairs the board's public safety-judicial committee.

"Arbic's job performance and conduct are excellent; people rave about the guy," said Board Vice Chairman Jack LaBelle of Brighton Township.

Part of Arbic's duties will be overseeing the operation of the county's 911 central dispatch service. The operation has come under criticism lately by the county's police chiefs, who have said they don't have enough input in its administration. Domas said he is confident Arbic will be able to mend fences and improve communications with the heads of law enforcement and other emergency response agencies such as the county's fire departments and EMS.

RCR WIRELESS: Will the lions lie down with the lambs? A future for public-safety communications

Like many of the most popular scriptural sayings, “and the lion shall lay down with the lamb” never actually appears in Scripture. What Isaiah (65:25) actually said, in describing a vision of paradise, was: “The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.” With all due respect to Isaiah, I like the “lion – lamb” as an image for the impossibly perfect future.

Which brings me to the topic of this column. If as a nation we are to solve our public-safety communications crisis, we must focus on a vision of a divine future where, in fact, the lions and the lambs of the wireless industry achieve a perfect harmony.

HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act: The Heritage Foundation 2009 Labor Boot Camp

What Is the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (PSEEC)?

• The act would require all state and local governments to collectively bargain with public safety employees'--police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel--by creating a federalized collective bargaining system for public safety officers.
• PSEEC allows the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to determine whether a state's collective bargaining arrangements meet the standards as defined by the act.

REGISTER-GUARD: Officials urge hike in funds for county’s public safety

Lane County public safety officials said Thursday that the system needs more money — a day after the county board indicated it hopes only to hold the line on public safety funding next year.

District Attorney Alex Gardner and Sheriff Russ Burger said the county public safety system is falling apart, and they’ll ask the board to direct more money next year to the Lane County Jail and other public safety and social services.

But both said they’re also well aware of the county’s stark revenue shortage, and they acknowledged the possibility that their pleas will go unanswered.

“We talk to the commissioners all the time, and ultimately the decision over whether to mitigate the public safety crisis is theirs,” Gardner said. “Obviously, the judges and the district attorney and the sheriff are going to continue to say, ‘Not only is (the public safety system) broken, but it’s getting worse.’ ”

AHWAUTUKEE FOOTHILL NEWS: Public safety escapes most proposed budget cuts

The proposed city budget includes cuts totaling more than $270 million, including elimination of the after-school program, slashed library hours, elimination of the service counter at the Pecos Park Community Center, less park and street maintenance, rotating closures of city pools, cuts to the ALEX schedule, 1,200 positions being eliminated and much more.

What it doesn't include are reductions to the public safety budget, which will actually see a $6.7 million increase. But that is a drop in the bucket compared to the increased cost of living or personnel costs the police and fire departments would normally have received.

BROADBAND CENSUS: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin Resigns, Expresses Regret About Public Safety Communications

WASHINGTON, January 15, 2009 - Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin on Thursday resigned from his position, effective Inauguration Day.

Of all the issues that took place during his chairmanship, from March 2005 until next week, Martin expressed the strongest regret about the lack of interoperable communications networks for public safety officials.

MULTICHANNEL NEWS: Public Safety Groups Fear Obama DTV Delay

Washington—Four leading public safety organizations want a guarantee that an Obama administration delay of the Feb. 17 digital television transition will not postpone their access to spectrum now occupied by analog TV stations.

First responders are to receive 24 MHz of spectrum so they can communicate on the same frequencies nationally, but they can't use those airwaves until analog TV stations have cleared out.

"We ask that any legislation implementing a delay in the DTV transition include exemptions for channels that have been reallocated, approved, or are pending approval for public safety communications," the groups said in a Jan. 9 letter to President-elect Obama.

Signing the letter were Chris Fischer, president of Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials-International (APCO); Chief Russell Laine, president of International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP); Chief Larry Grorud, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC); and Ralph Haller, chairman of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council (NPSTC).

NEW MEXICO BUSINESS WEEKLY: Much of SkyWi’s telecom network still down

Local voice and Internet service provider SkyWi Inc. said Qwest Communications International has yet to restore most of its telecommunications network.

Qwest disconnected SkyWi on Dec. 30 because of a billing dispute, leaving thousands of Internet and phone customers without service in the six states where SkyWi operates: New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Texas.

The cutoff created a crisis situation in some New Mexico communities because public safety — including fire, police and medical services — were affected.

DAILY GAZETTE: Editorial: Is public safety training center ever going to happen?

In the past, we have supported the idea of a public safety training center in Schenectady. But after five years of talk, the project doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. And it isn’t clear that it should, given the price tag, location and at least one of the intended uses.