Sunday, August 21, 2005

 

SUMMARY FINE ?



SUMMARY

You might as well go back to reading yesterday's Sunday Comics if you don’t feel like hearing a summary of what is going on in OUR county. However if you indeed would like to keep up on things, this buds for you.

Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety

What we know:

At the HIGHEST LEVEL, The Westmoreland County Commissioners refuse to talk about any of the serious problems facing our 911 Center and it’s Radio System. That tells me that they DON’T GIVE A DAMN. Commissioner Tom Balya is basically responsible for this system, so I’ve been told.

At the NEXT HIGHEST LEVEL, Mark Brammell and Rich Matason refuse to return any of my calls for comment on why 911 isn’t running properly and this Radio Equipment and System is NOT working properly.

Dispatchers and Supervisors taking more than the number of LUNCH and SMOKE BREAKS and for more time than allowed.

Supervisors and Dispatchers leaving the 911 grounds to go out to Denny’s or Taco Bell’s for lunch and dinner pickup, leaving the building short handed of call takers, dispatchers and a supervisor.

EQUIPMENT at the 911 Center not working or broken while Management carry brand new Blackberry Cell Phones ( Total of 5 new ones ! ) which the County ( us ) pays for.

RADIO CALLS by Police, Ambulance and Fire are not being answered in a timely manner or not at all by the dispatchers.

VHF Pagers and Siren Activations not working properly.

The T1 Telephone Data / Voice Control Circuits to the Remote Tower Sites keep going down leaving thousands of people without Police, Ambulance and Fire Protection at times.

Mark B. gets to drive around a new County Vehicle and we can NOT afford to put up a NEEDED TOWER or two on the INDIANA / WESTMORELAND COUNTY LINE for PROPER SIGNAL COVERAGE.

Brand new radios continue to BREAK DOWN and the turn around repair service IS SUPER SLOW.

Brand new radios are NOT HOLDING their programming, then require reprogramming just to be ignored by Staley Communications, thus turning the radio into a $3,000.00 paper weight.

911’s Radio System HAS YET to completely HOLD UP under a big thunder storm. So far each time Westmoreland County has had a big THUNDER STORM our radio system has CRASHED ! Each CRASH has resulted in a loss of radio service to at least one Remote Tower Site which leaves thousands of County Residents without proper Police, Ambulance and Fire Protection. The last I heard the North Huntingdon Tower Site is STILL DOWN because of last weekends thunderstorm !

There is NO BACKUP COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM in place for this 800 Mhz System. If it were to go down the County would be without Emergency Communications, PERIOD.

Dispatchers at 911 no longer MONITOR the old Police Frequencies. That means several things including the Pa. State Police can NO LONGER reach 911 now by radio as they used the County Police Frequencies to make contact. It also means that if an 800 Mhz Radio Breaks Down like they have been lately in a police car, that police car could not use their old radio to call 911 as a backup.

The Plantronics Communication Headsets used by the Dispatchers are not being used properly with some dispatchers just holding the unit in their hands and others sticking the thing up there noses with each time sending out Garbled Unintelligent Grunting Noises instead of Speech that most people understand. The headsets are good, the way they are used is NOT very responsible.

Ok, there it be... your summary. Oh there's more, I just didn't want to start your Monday morning off on the wrong foot.


I heard someone say or mention that I don't know what I'm talking about as far as the internal works go when it comes to "inside the 911 center".

All I have to say about that is that it's funny how all the 911 employees that are smokers spend so much time out of the room on the funeral home bench (Ross Walker Funeral Home) talking about the BLAH-G while someone may be dieing because no one is in the room to answer the phones and radios !


Think about it...

DECODED,
K3SAM
http://800.k3sam.com - audio clips, photos, 911 Radio System Guide
news@k3sam.com - send in your comments and tips

(audio file webpage updated 21 Aug 05)

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