Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Dog Pound - Jan. 23, 2003

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2003 09:10:40 -0500

On Tuesday the U.S. Senate passed S.B. 121 by a vote of 92-0 to create a national
coordinator within the DOJ to implement, improve and coordinate local Amber Alert systems,
and to establish minimum standards for local programs. The bill also directs the Secretary
of Transportation to work with states to establish and enhance programs that cover the
highways, and sets up 50% matching grants for local and state agencies to establish Amber
Alert programs: $20 million for the DOT and $5 million for the DOJ. The same legislation
passed the House last year, but was killed by the Senate. Surf:

http://www.911Dispatch.com/information/amber_alert.html

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The National Communications System (NCS) announced that wireless priority access is now
available through T-Mobile in areas of the eastern United States. Authorized wireless
phone users, usually federal and state-level emergency officials at this point, can press
*272 on their phones, and have their call receive priority access to T-Mobile's system.
The NCS said it plans to expand the service to the rest of the country during the
remainder of 2003--and the NCS is hoping other carriers come on board. In a press release,
the NCS said it plans to add other GSM-based carriers such as AT&T Wireless, Cingular, and
Nextel "in the near future."  The agency added that it plan to add CDMA carrier such as
Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS, "as soon as funding allows." You'll recall that Verizon
made an early offer to implement priority access, but then pulled out several months
later. 

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As the military gears up for a possible war in Iraq, the Hound salutes those dispatchers
who are members of the National Guard, and who are leaving their jobs, families and
friends to go on active duty. 

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After a disasterous, multi-million dollar fire in a retail/condo complex in San Jose
(Calif.), the fire department issued a report that said, "Existing Communications
policies, procedures and guidelines were followed and that call processing and dispatching
of the initial alarms to Santana were appropriate and timely." But the report went on to
say that several issues will be addressed, including improving county-wide radio
communications for mutual aid, adding four new fireground radio frequencies, developing a
new CAD program, and constructing a new fire communications center funded from a bond
measure. In another section, the report said gingerly, "The Department has identified
opportunities for improvement, particularly in an environment of expanding or rapidly
escalating operations during a major or catastrophic event." We'll have a full report in a
future printed edition.

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The Sebastian (Fla.) police purchased a $98,528 CAD system from Information Management
Corp. that includes mapping features. The town of 15,000 residents on the state's east
coast has its 911 calls answered by the Indian River County sheriff, who dispatch fire/EMS
calls and transfer law enforcement incidents to the town's dispatchers.

--------------------------
Motorola, Inc. announced their fourth-quarter and full year financials: sales were up 3%
for the quarter and they made a profit of $174 million. For the full year, sales were down
about 11% and they posted a loss of $2.5 billion. In a press release, company officials
noted that sales and profitability improved during the last quarter, and they believe the
company is turning around. The Commercial, Government and Industrial Solutions Segment,
which markets to public safety, posted sales of $1.2 billion for the fourth quarter, down
2 percent. Orders decreased 5 percent to $1.1 billion, "due primarily to large system
procurement delays by government customers in the Americas as homeland security programs
are yet to be finalized." The press release mentioned Motorola's contract signing with the
District of Columbia during the quarter, and also contracts with Westmoreland County
(Penn.), Houston County (Geo.) and Oakland (Calif.).

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