Burn Bans In Place as of 06/30/2011

Borger PD Is Hiring !

NOTICE OF VACANCY BORGER POLICE DEPARTMENT 

A job opening will be available in the Police Department for a 911 Dispatcher.  The starting salary

for this position will be $2273.85 a month or $1049.47 bi-weekly based on the applicant

qualifications.

JOB SUMMARY:

Acts as receptionist and operates central base radio equipment and provides timely and accurate transmittal of information and messages regarding police operations.  Receive and send messages in the police communications center during an assigned shift.

=================================================================

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Incumbent will have the responsibility for the operation of the central base radio equipment by answering incoming radio and telephone calls, including 911 operations, dispatching police patrol cars, fire and EMS vehicles to emergencies, maintain accurate account of the location of patrol cars, assists police officers in locating streets and addresses and maintain radio dispatch logs; prepare required reports; operate teletype, receives and relays information to the state police, county sheriff, and various other law enforcement agencies; look up numbers for stolen cars; check wanted persons by name and date of birth; act as receptionist, receives fines, books prisoners, orders their meals, and maintains records of time in jail, monitors burglar alarms; notify ambulance, towing services, road maintenance crews, signal light crews, and the Fire Department when necessary; perform other duties as assigned.  =================================================================

OTHER ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

Incumbent must be able to sit for prolonged periods of time and perform other duties as assigned.

=================================================================

REQUIRED EDUCATION, DEGREES, CERTIFICATES, AND/OR LICENSE:

Incumbent must have a high-school diploma, and must be able to obtain Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (TECLEOSE) certification for police dispatchers.  National Crime Information System and Texas Crime Information System certification.  Any certifications required to perform police radio or telecommunications duties required by any governmental agency having duties to regulate the activity.

=================================================================

EXPERIENCE, TRAINING, KNOWLEDGE, AND SKILLS:

Incumbent should know or be able to learn the names and location of the streets and principal buildings in the City; receive and route messages to appropriate personnel for action.  Read and interpret policies and procedures governing radio operations.  Act calmly and accurately in an emergency.  Speak clearly and concisely with a well-modulated voice under emergency conditions.  Keep records and executes miscellaneous routine clerical work.  Establish and maintain effective working relationship with other employees and the public.

Anyone qualified and desiring to apply for this position should contact Workforce Solutions, 1315 W. Wilson Street in Borger by  5:00 p.m., on Friday,  July 08, 2011.           (806) 274-7171

Perryton PD is Hiring !

If you're looking for a great place to work, Perryton PD has an opening! They offer great pay, 12 hours shifts (4 on / 4 off), a retirement plan, and the City pays 100% of employee's insurance coverage. 

If you would like more information please contact the Perryton Police Department. 

 We will update with more information as soon as we have it available.

From Pam : It's Newsletter Time !

Hi Y'ALL!

Well it is Newsletter Time and I am looking for some stuff to put in it!

This newsletter is for YOU and about YOU - so I am asking YOU for some help.

Please send some pictures of anything about your job! -  It would be awesome if you

creeped around the office and take some pics of your coworkers!!!  LOL

Also, how about any interesting 9-1-1 calls?

In a more serious note, If you would like to say something about Carolyn Sabbee for the

newsletter, we are going to have a page of memories for her. 

One more thing, if you have a job opening in your comm center and would like for us to post it

on the blog or in the newsletter, please send us the information. 

Don't wait too long to respond as we are working on it this week!

Thanks!

Pamela Frisk 

Email me or Mel with anything you'd like included.

pfrisk@theprpc.org
mdavis@theprpc.org

Social media continues to be a valuable asset for public safety agencies.

Central Jersey police using social media to keep public informed

Departmental Facebook, Twitter use part of growing national trend

8:15 AM, Jun. 28, 2011  |  

Comments

Purchase Image

Piscataway, 6/27/2011. -- Dispatcher Jillian Sofield and Lieutenant Edgar Velasquez work together to post a traffic advisory for July 4th to subscribers of the Nixle web service from the dispatch station at Piscataway Police Headquarters on Monday, June 27, 2011. AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. METRO. BRI 0628 Social Media. B69114653Z.1 / A.F. MENEZES/MyCentralJersey

• T

Written by

Mark Spivey | Staff Writer

• FILED UNDER
• News
• North Jersey

Purchase ImageZOOM

Piscataway, 6/27/2011. -- Dispatcher Jillian Sofield and Lieutenant Edgar Velasquez work together to post a traffic advisory for July 4th to subscribers of the Nixle web service from the dispatch station at Piscataway Police Headquarters on Monday, June 27, 2011. AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. METRO. BRI 0628 Social Media. B69114653Z.1 / A.F. MENEZES/MyCentralJersey

Purchase ImageZOOM

Piscataway, 6/27/2011. -- Dispatcher Jillian Sofield and Lieutenant Edgar Velasquez work together to compose and post a traffic advisory for July 4th to subscribers of the Nixle web service from the dispatch station at Piscataway Police Headquarters on Monday, June 27, 2011. AUGUSTO F. MENEZES/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER. METRO. BRI 0628 Social Media. B69114653Z.1 / A.F. MENEZES/MyCentralJersey

On the Web

For more information about the International Association of Chiefs of Police Center for Social Media, or to use a searchable database to find out what New Jersey police departments are making use of social media, go online to www.iacpsocialmedia.org. To find out more about Nixle, or to check what local police departments are using it, go to www.Nixle.com.

CENTRAL JERSEY — Mike Parker has a message for law enforcement organizations that have gotten into the habit of posting news releases and other public information to their department websites.

“If you’re doing that, you’re doing great — for 10 years ago,” Parker said.

A growing number of Central Jersey police departments and prosecutor’s offices are starting to use social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter and other websites to accelerate dissemination of public information to residents, but they still remain exceptions to the rule. That’s why Parker, a captain with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and an internationally renowned expert in the field of public information in law enforcement, is joining a growing chorus of voices recommending that more agencies give the concept some serious consideration.

“This is the way our society is now, especially with our younger generation,” Hillsborough Police Chief Paul Kaminsky said in agreement. “They want immediate notification.”

Hillsborough’s police department in 2009 registered with Nixle, a subscription-based information service that allows law enforcement and other government agencies to connect with residents in real time via text messages, emails and other forms of online correspondence. About two dozen police departments in Middlesex, Somerset, Hunterdon and Union counties have Nixle accounts, although only slightly more than half of them post regular updates.

Hillsborough went a step further and created a Twitter feed that automatically tweets Nixle updates as they are issued, Kaminsky said. The setup allows any of the township’s nearly 40,000 residents spread across 55 square miles to receive instant alerts about traffic conditions, road closures, suspicious vehicles and more — information that can get from an officer’s desktop computer straight to a resident’s smartphone in a matter of seconds.

“We normally posted these things on local television, which was great if you were home … and we also used 610 AM local radio through the (township) Office of Emergency Management,” Kaminsky said. “But this is just a way to get the information out quick in the most convenient ways possible.”

The police department issues about 10 to 15 alerts per month, and the free service has been received well by officers and residents alike, Kaminsky said.

“We strongly recommend it (to other police departments),” he said. “It’s definitely worthwhile.”

Nixle subscribers in Piscataway had an inside track to avoiding traffic Friday morning, when a notification advised that a portion of Centennial Avenue was experiencing alternating lane closures for a milling and paving project.

Piscataway Police Lt. Edgar Velasquez said the department signed up for the service a little more than six months ago and also has been pleased with the results. Township police dispatchers handle Nixle updates, Velasquez said, meaning vital public information isn’t even slowed down by an intermediary en route to residents.

“They’re the ones getting the first calls,” Velasquez said of the dispatchers. “Plus they work with computers all day long, so it seemed like a natural progression.”

Praise for the service and other sources of social media as conduits for public information was echoed by every keynote speaker at a recent roundtable conference held at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan. Police chiefs, prosecutor’s office representatives and members of the media from across Central and North Jersey attended the event, where Parker and others outlined examples from across the country.

Speakers described how in Baltimore, Twitter has replaced telephone hotlines as the principal link between police and reporters; within 20 minutes of just about every major crime event, 140 characters or less of details are sent out to media subscribers. The Philadelphia Police Department has become a national phenomenon on Facebook, amassing more than 35,000 “likes,” others noted, while Toronto’s police department has more than 13,000 Twitter followers (a quirky sergeant in the department, Tim Burrows, has nearly as many in his own right, occasionally tweeting as frequently as 10 times an hour).

Using social media eases burdens on dispatchers, improves media relations, aids disaster management and generates tips for time-sensitive investigations, speakers noted. And it doesn’t hurt that Facebook and Twitter are both free services with combined user totals approaching 1 billion around the world.

“Social media is not a fad,” said Nancy Kolb, a senior program manager for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. “And it will continue to evolve.”

According to estimates developed by the association, or IACP — which through its Center for Social Media helps individual police departments integrate online tools into agency operations — as of 2010 at least 1,300 U.S. police agencies used Facebook while more than 600 were on Twitter. One of the first state law-enforcement organizations to use Twitter was the New Jersey State Police, which today has more than 6,500 followers.

“At first I did it just for the media with a closed account … but I just got so tired of refusing people who requested it and weren’t part of the media that I just said, ‘You know what? It’s public information anyhow,’ ” said Sgt. Stephen Jones, the acting director of communication for the State Police.

The service has been helpful in spreading the word about events ranging from tornado warnings to bank robbery investigations, Jones said.

“There’s obviously a public safety benefit to asking for public input, whether it’s an Amber Alert type of thing … or something else,” Jones said. “It may even be something like we’re looking for who’s got this car involved in a hit-and-run.”

“Our goal is to get a lot more aggressive with this, too,” Jones added. “I wouldn’t say we’re ahead of the curve by any means. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.”

I can smell the rain !

Enjoy the weather and be safe! 

BMW's New Crash Algorithm Release

BMW Crash-Severity Algorithm Tells Emergency Room Where it Hurts

• By Bill Howard on June 20, 2011 at 1:00 pm

BMW has raised automatic crash notification to a new level. The on-board BMW Assist telematics system already calls 911 after a crash, just as many other brands do. But BMWs can also report to the 911 call center the likely severity of occupant injuries, and now BMW says it can transmit the injury information to a nearby hospital trauma center. BMW’s enhanced automatic collision notification (enhanced ACN or EACN) uses a sophisticated set of algorithms to instantly read the car’s crash sensor data and make an informed estimate of how to respond to the accident – police  car? ambulance? helicopter? – and what injuries to look for when the victims get to the hospital or trauma center. That quick response has the potential to save thousands of lives.

You’re in luck if you have your car crash in Miami, in a BMW. It’s where BMW and the University of Miami’s William Lehman Injury Research Center have a cooperative project to wring out enhanced ACN. BMW has worked with the Lehman Center since 2001 and now they’re midway through a three-year project that began in October 2009 to gather data on crashes and the value of quick, appropriate response and treatment during the golden hour, or the first hour after the crash. If you can get the victim stabilized and to a trauma center within an hour of a bad crash, the odds of survival and recovery are highest. The most recent announcement, this week at the Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference in National Harbor, Md., extends BMW’s ability to transmit extensive crash information not just to the 911 system but also directly to hospital trauma centers, starting with Miami’s Ryder Trauma Center.

With the current automatic crash notification that’s on most telematics-equipped cars (meaning they have integrated on-board cellphones for data as well as voice, such as GM’s OnStar), here’s what happens in a crash: The car senses the severity of impact, the angle of impact, multiple impacts (crash and rollover), which airbags deployed, and whether the occupants are belted, says Peter Baur, manager of product analysis at BMW of North America.  But there’s no interpretation of the data beyond: airbags-went-bang-send-help-to-this-geographic-coordinate. Police would respond (often just a patrol car), check out the crash, then call for an ambulance or occasionally a medical helicopter, then, says Baur, “EMS would drop off the trauma patient, but not necessarily [describe] what the accident looked like.” Meanwhile, in the most severe cases, the clock is running down on that golden hour.

With enhanced ACN, Baur says, “We collect the sensor data, massage it, evaluate it,” and then draw conclusions as to the likely severity of the accident, the odds of severe injury, even the chances of serious hidden injuries. That enhanced ACN information is what BMW and sibling Rolls-Royce transmit via the BMW call center to the nation’s 6,100 public safety answering points (PSAPs, or 911 call centers) and now to Miami’s Ryder Trauma Center for a Miami-area accident. Other automakers also have just as many sensors on their cars, incidentally — but they don’t yet analyze and make recommendations based on the crash data.

Dr. Jeffrey S. Augenstein, a professor of surgery at the Lehman Center, says one example of enhanced ACN’s value, would be interpreting side impacts. A crash victim might be walking around and appear to have no injuries. But BMW’s interpretation of the crash data might suggest the patient is at risk of liver injuries or a torn layer in the aorta, the main blood vessel from the heart. “The victim might feel fine but he could be bleeding [to death] internally,” Augenstein says. In that kind of accident, enhanced ACN’s recommendation to dispatch a medevac helicopter might raise some costs (helicopters run more than ambulances) and reduce others (funerals).

In an accident where the car has an integrated telematics cellphone, an automakers’ call center (not just BMW’s) also opens a voice link to the occupants to gather information and reassure them help is on way; in some cases, the automaker’s call center can even set up a three-way conference call with the PSAP. Augenstein, says, “We found that 92% of the time we have voice communication after the accident and we can capture things like who’s in the car, who’s injured, are they on medications.” (The other 8% of the time the occupants are already out of the car or too injured to respond.)

Right now, BMW or any other automaker implementing enhanced ACN can only recommend how public safety departments should respond. If the CDC orders the nation’s 911 providers to take as gospel the recommendations of enhanced emergency crash notification algorithms, communities would have to in some crashes immediately dispatch an ambulance and police car simultaneously, and in some cases a medevac helicopter. They’d also have to upgrade their call centers to receive the information electronically, meaning more costs for cities and towns, or more requests for federal aid to pay for new systems. But the bottom line, says BMW’s Baur, is that the value of extending human life should far outweigh the costs.

We Need Rain !

Remember most counties in Texas have fireworks bans in place!

Carolyn Sabbee lost her battle with cancer yesterday morning at Amarillo Hospice. Carolyn was the Wheeler County 9-1-1 Supervisor and so much more.

Wright Funeral Directors: Obituaries

Carolyn Sue Sabbe 
(November 9, 1947 - June 20, 2011) 

Guest Book | Sign Guest Book | Send Private Condolences | Send Flowers | Send Sympathy Card

Funeral services will be held Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church Wheeler, TX with Rev. Tom Carter and Rev. Jim Jamieson officiating.

Burial will be in the Wheeler Cemetery, Wheeler, TX under the direction of Wright Funeral Directors, Wheeler, TX.
Carolyn was born on November 9, 1947 in Littlefield, TX to Floyd Damron and Mary William. Carolyn worked for the Wheeler Co. Sheriff for 21 years as a dispatcher and administrative assistant from 1990-2011. She also owned a flower shop in wheeler called Flowers and Things, and Carolyn worked at Farm Bureau. Carolyn married James (Joey) Sabbe on August 25, 1969 in Pampa, TX. Carolyn was a member of the United Methodist Women, Sheriff Association, and the Texas Jail Association. Carolyn was preceded in death by her father in 1994, and 1 sister Linda Hope Damron. The family will be having visitation Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at Wright Funeral Home Wheeler, TX from 6pm-8pm.
Carolyn is survived by her husband James (Joey) Sabbe of Wheeler, TX 1 daughter Kelli Maddox and husband Haydn of Memphis, TX., 1 son James Heath Sabbe and wife Jennifer of Amarillo, TX., 2 sisters Pat Loe and Husband Bennie of Spur, TX., and Tammy Damron of Ruidoso, NM., 5 grandchildren Brock Sabbe, Kenley Maddox, Tyler Wormsbaker, Saylem Maddox, and Tallon Sabbe, her mother Mary Damron of Bovina, TX.
The family has requested in lieu of flowers and memorials be sent to Susan G. Komen For The Cure P.O. Box 50610 Amarillo, TX 79159, BSA Hospice 600 North Tyler Street Amarillo, TX 79107, First United Methodist Church P.O. Box 89 Wheeler, TX 79096, or your favorite charity.

Very Sad

911 Dispatcher Tracy Wilson Learns Drowning Call Victim Was Her Son

Posted: 6/17/11 4:27:31 PM | Updated: 6/17/11 6:02:57 PM

20

59

9

Emergency dispatcher Tracy Wilson experienced true horror earlier this week, when she learned that the victim in a call she handled was in fact her 17-year-old son.

The teenager, Mitchel Krause, was on a fishing expedition with friends at Rock Cut State Park on Tuesday, just south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. When Wilson started receiving 911 calls about a drowning in the park, she told the Peoria Journal-Star that she refused to imagine that it was her son. "As a dispatcher, you can't think that way," Wilson said.

But when she received a call from a police officer in nearby Loves Park, Illinois, she knew that something terrible had happened.

Krause's canoe apparently tipped over, submerging him under the water. He was below for around 30 to 40 minutes, and was pronounced dead at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

He had just finished his junior year of high school, according to NBC Chicago. His mother says he was a strong swimmer, and that she doesn't know why he was unable to make it back to the shores of Pierce Lake. An autopsy revealed no physical injuries that could have hindered him.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/NewsGlide/#!&top-stories_879505_911-dispatcher-tracy-wils

Ken Jeong from The Hangover promoting Hands Only CPR !

This just proves how AWESOME Hands Only CPR is ! :)

CPR Saves Lives

"More than 92% of people who suffer from cardiac arrest outside the hospital will die from it."   (American Heart Association) 

That's a shocking statistic! Do you know the reason that those 92% will die? Most bystanders are afraid to react  because they are afraid they will administer CPR incorrectly.

Luckily, The American Heart Association has implemented a new type of  CPR, Hands Only CPRTM. 

Hands-OnlyTM CPR is CPR without mouth-to-mouth breaths. It is recommended for use by people who see an adult suddenly collapse in the “out-of-hospital” setting (like at home, at work, in a park). It consists of two steps:

• 1) Call 911 (or send someone to do that).
• 2) Begin providing high-quality chest compressions by pushing hard and fast in the center of the chest with minimal interruptions.

This type of CPR is recommended for use on teens or adults (anyone over the age of 8) whom you witness suddenly collapse.

Why don’t adults who suddenly collapse need mouth-to-mouth breathing in the first few minutes after their cardiac arrest? 

When an adult suddenly collapses with cardiac arrest, their lungs and blood contain enough oxygen to keep vital organs healthy for the first few minutes, as long as someone provides high quality chest compressions with minimal interruption to pump blood to the heart and brain.

• When an adult suddenly collapses with cardiac arrest, the cause is usually an electrical malfunction, an abrupt onset of an abnormal heart rhythm. The most common abnormal rhythm causing sudden cardiac arrest is ventricular fibrillation (VF). VF causes the heart to quiver so it does not pump blood. Before a sudden collapse, the adult was probably breathing normally. At the time of a sudden collapse, the adult's lungs and blood are likely to have a fresh supply of oxygen that can last for at least a few minutes even if breathing stops.
• Consider when you hold your breath while floating in a pool. Most people can hold their breath for quite a while, as long as they are not moving.
• Another reason that breaths may not be needed during the first minutes after collapse is that a person in cardiac arrest needs less oxygen than a person who is not in cardiac arrest.
• For these reasons, the most important thing a bystander can do for a person in sudden cardiac arrest is to pump blood to the brain and to the heart muscle, delivering the oxygen that still remains in the lungs and blood. A rescuer can do this by giving high-quality chest compressions with minimal interruptions. Interruptions in compressions to give breaths (mouth-to-mouth breaths) may bring some additional oxygen to the lungs but the benefit of that oxygen can be offset if you stop the blood flow to the brain and heart muscle for more than a few seconds (especially in the first few minutes after a sudden cardiac arrest when there is still plenty of oxygen in the lungs and blood).

How do you perform Hands Only CPR?

Donley,Briscoe, Hall, Gray, & Collingsworth Counties Fireworks Bans in Place

With it being so dry and awful outside, please be aware of what is going on in and around your counties! 

http://www.clarendonlive.com/?p=9081

BREAKING NEWS – COUNTY BANS FIREWORKS

Donley County Judge Jack Hall this morning signed an order banning the sale and use of fireworks, and Gov. Rick Perry this afternoon extended that ban through the July Fourth holiday.

Perry’s decision comes at the recommendation of the Texas Division of Emergency Managment, and his extension will expire at 7 a.m. on July 5, 2011.

The local fireworks ban, which was good for only 60 hours prior to the governor’s extension, was included in a county disaster declaration signed by Hall today.

The disaster declaration cites the lack of rainfall and continuing hot, dry conditions as posing the threat of large wildfire which could endanger “lives and property on a large scale.” It also states that current conditions make the threat of disaster “imminent.”

Hall’s disaster declaration is in effect for seven days unless the commissioners’ court extends the declaration at their meeting next Monday.

The judge said Briscoe, Hall, Gray, Collingsworth, and Armstrong counties are all passing similar measures to help prevent wildfires.