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Press Release: Dublin Police Department No Longer Answering 9-1-1 Calls

Press Release: Dublin Police Department No Longer Answering 9-1-1 Calls

Dublin, TX, October 28, 2020 –  Today the Dublin Police Department closed its Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) and will no longer answer 9-1-1 calls or dispatch responses. 9-1-1 calls made by citizens of Dublin will now be answered by the Erath County Sheriff’s Office located in Stephenville, Texas. 

The Dublin Police Department was a two position PSAP that received 1,124 9-1-1 calls over the past year. The Erath County Sheriff’s Office has four positions and received 21,000 calls. Dublin officers will still respond to calls made within their jurisdiction.

Both the Dublin Police Department and the Erath County Sheriff’s Office are located within the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) service area. NCT9-1-1 is committed to providing PSAPs with the best resources and tools to serve citizens with a particular focus on early adoption in the emergency number industry. This includes text-to-9-1-1 and supplemental location for wireless calls. This superior level of service will continue to be offered to the citizens of Dublin.     

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About the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1)

The North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) is responsible for 40 plus Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the 13 counties surrounding the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The district supports these PSAPs through maintaining and upgrading 9-1-1 equipment, providing up-to-date mapping information, training 9-1-1 telecommunicators, educating the public on the proper use of 9-1-1, and monitoring PSAP functionality and compliances. NCT9-1-1 serves a population of 1.7 million and 10,000+ square miles.the best

How To Stay Spooky Safe This Halloween

How To Stay Spooky Safe This Halloween

A lot of things have changed in 2020 and though we never thought we’d go into Halloween concerned about masks (at least, not the kind of masks we usually associate with Halloween!) and social distancing, we’ve found ourselves wondering how to stay safe this Halloween. Luckily, most of the precautionary measures we’re already taking can still keep our families, loved ones, and ourselves safe. We’ve highlighted some ways your family can adapt these precautions to stay spooky safe on October 31!

Stick with Outdoor Events

Haunted houses may be a Halloween staple for you, but experts advise that staying outdoors where you can maintain at least six feet of distance between yourself and others is preferred. Unfortunately, most haunted houses don’t allow for this. But there are plenty of outdoor events to attend in North Texas that can help you stay safe this Halloween.  

Where: Canton, Texas

Cost: $18.95 online or $24.95 at the gate. There are deals for group packages and super passes that you can review here.

Nothing says fall like a corn maze. Explore Yesterland Farm’s 3-acre maze as well as their 30 other activities and attractions. Their Spooktacular Nights begin October 2nd – October 31 and that’s when things get spooky! They encourage social distancing, offer hand-washing and sanitizing stations, and ask that guests wear face masks when social distancing is not possible.

Where: Cleburne, Texas

Cost: $19.95 for a weekend pass, but look online for special rates.

Called the Biggest Backyard in Texas, Mainstay Farm Park in Cleburne offers over 40 outdoor attractions on its grounds including a seasonal pumpkin patch, hayride, and more! With acres of activities spread throughout the farm, Mainstay requests visitors practice social distancing and other precautionary measures to protect their staff and guests.  

Little girl at a pumpkin patch

Where: Midlothian, Texas

Cost: $10 per person, free for 2 and under or 55 and older, and $8 for veterans or first responders.

A $10 pass will get you a whole day of corn mazes, hay rides, pumpkin games, and more! The 10 acre park has a lot of fall festivities for every age group. The farm has adopted the “care+” mentality in response to COVID-19 and commits to providing hand sanitizing/washing stations, making sanitizing common areas a top priority, encouraging social distancing and mask wearing, and other precautions. 

Where: Dallas, Texas

Cost: $12.00 – $17.00

If you’ve never experienced Autumn at the Arboretum, this is your chance! Every year the Dallas Arboretum highlights the “art of the pumpkin” with a festive display of more than 90,000 pumpkins, gourds, and squash. It’s a great photo opportunity for the Instagrammer in all of us! To avoid overcrowding, guests book a reservation for a four-hour time slot and masks are required for those aged five and up.    

Follow the Guidelines of Your Community

Communities have been affected by COVID-19 in different ways, so to stay safe this Halloween make sure you adapt to what works in your area. If you’re not sure what that means, you can visit Halloween 2020, which provides a map created by the Harvard Global Health Institute to help families identify what kinds of activities may be safe for their area based on COVID-19 risk levels. 

Keeping Following Standard Precautions 

We’ve all followed the recommendations from the CDC like washing our hands regularly, social distancing, and wearing a mask when distancing isn’t possible. By following these suggestions, you can keep your Halloween safe. You may have to make some changes to your usual traditions, like a costume parade around the neighborhood instead of trick or treating, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a spooky safe Halloween!   

Press Release: North Texas Sees Increase in Citizen Requests to Connect Cell Phone to Home Address After COVID-19

Press Release: North Texas Sees Increase in Citizen Requests to Connect Cell Phone to Home Address After COVID-19

Arlington, TX, October 8, 2020 — The North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) has seen an increase in citizen requests to connect their home address to their cell phone number after the coronavirus pandemic forced households indoors. 9-1-1 technology does not allow for this solution and it would put callers at risk by preventing life-saving care from arriving in time.

When dialing 9-1-1 from any location using a cell phone, telecommunicators receive the caller’s approximate location. Traditional location information is provided by the cell phone company while supplemental location information is supplied from data from a cell phone.

If a 9-1-1 call was made by a cell phone number associated with a private residence address, responders would be directed to that residence. Even if the call was made elsewhere, which would slow the response and create life-threatening risk if the responders arrived in the wrong location.

North Texas citizens concerned about telecommunicators identifying their residence’s accurate location during an emergency can utilize a landline to make the 9-1-1 call. Landlines are associated with a specific private residence address that are stored in a database for that service area.

NCT9-1-1 is an early adopter in the emergency number industry and has implemented innovative technology such as supplemental location accuracy, What3Words, and cloud-based mapping solutions to assist in accurately identifying 9-1-1 calls. The district will continue to bring 9-1-1 telecommunicators the best tools available to provide life-saving care to its service area. Citizens can contact the district here.

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About the North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1)

The North Central Texas Emergency Communications District (NCT9-1-1) is responsible for 40 plus Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in the 13 counties surrounding the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The district supports these PSAPs through maintaining and upgrading 9-1-1 equipment, providing up-to-date mapping information, training 9-1-1 telecommunicators, educating the public on the proper use of 9-1-1, and monitoring PSAP functionality and compliances. NCT9-1-1 serves a population of 1.7 million and 10,000+ square miles.

What Does a 3-Digit Number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Mean for 911?

What Does a 3-Digit Number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline Mean for 911?

what does a 3-digit suicide lifeline number mean for 911?In 2018, President Trump signed the national Suicide Hotline Improvement Act into law. The purpose of the act was to research and identify if the creation of a 3-digit number for the National Suicidal Prevention Lifeline would be worth the time, effort, and cost. In August of 2019, the FCC released their findings in a report and on Thursday, July 16, they unanimously voted to finalize 988 as the three-digit number for the suicide lifeline and will require phone carriers to begin this process by summer 2022. Until 988 is established, callers should continue to use the crisis center’s 10-digit number: 1-800-273-8255. What does a 3-digit suicide lifeline number mean for 911?

The 2018 report found that suicide rates have increased by 30% in the past two years, particularly in at-risk groups like veterans and the LGBTQ community. The FCC consulted multiple subject matter expert groups, including the North American Numbering Council (NANC), the Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).

Currently, the SAMHSA funds the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which is made up of 163 crisis centers across the country. Texas has 5 crisis centers and in the first 4 months of 2019 those centers received 64,361 calls. (If you’d like to see the call stats for your state, you can download the report here).

In the end, the report supported the creation of a 3-digit suicide hotline stating that it would “likely make it easier for Americans in crisis to access potentially life-saving resources” and determined that 988 would act as the new number, which brought about the announcement on July 16. That leaves the same question in every telecommunicator’s mind: Can life-saving resources not be obtained through the 911 program?

The importance of 911’s role in the topic of suicide in the United States was noted. The NANC stated utilizing a 3-digit number for the suicide line may “alleviate the pressure on 911 call takers and allow the caller to obtain assistance for other non-suicide related services in addition to mental health referrals.”

The SAMHSA also hope that “the [National Suicide Prevention] Lifeline could be more effective in preventing suicides and providing crisis intervention if it were accessible via a simple, easy-to-remember, 3-digit code.” Though 911 telecommunicators are trained on handling suicidal callers and other mental health concerns, Lifeline callers are trained specifically in Applied Suicide Intervention Skills and may be able to offer more specific services to suicidal callers.

The lifeline operators are also trained to deescalate the situation and attempt to work with the caller to brainstorm ways they can calm themselves down or otherwise provide additional help or resources for their mental state without contacting emergency services. However, the lifeline does acknowledge that when an “imminent risk” presents itself to the operator, they are trained to reach out to emergency services. Because lifeline calls are not geo located, operators use the caller’s area code and prefix to determine the correct PSAP to contact. These calls typically arrive through the PSAP’s 10-digit line. If someone contacts the lifeline through its online chat feature, location information is determined via the IP address, which can be determined by contacting the internet provider.

The lifeline pays for access to a PSAP database to identify the correct agency to contact for a caller in imminent risk, says Director of Clinical Best Practices Shye Lewis.

Most 911 professionals would agree that the creation of the 3-digit suicide hotline number will not eliminate suicidal calls in the PSAP. It’s important that telecommunicators continue to be trained properly on handling suicidal callers, but creating a 3-digit number for the suicide prevention lifeline may destigmatize mental health and allow more lives to be saved.

The national suicide prevention lifeline encourages local PSAPs to build a strong relationship with their local lifeline center to assist in future call transfers. You can find your closest crisis center here.

Download the National Suicide Lifeline Service Factsheet

 

Sources

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-359095A1.pdf

https://www.sprc.org/resources-programs/state-lifeline-reports

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.nena.org/resource/resmgr/Standards/NENA-STA-001.1.1-2013_Suicid.pdf