Month: June 2015

Andy Seybold’s Public Safety Advocate June 6, 2015

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First of all, the PSCR meeting in San Diego this week was very well attended, the crowd, according to those who track such things was over 500. Wednesday AM FirstNet had a short but productive Board of Directors meeting and then disappeared for a meeting to discuss staffing positions. We all expected to hear an announcement that TJ Kennedy would be appointed as the permanent Executive Director but it did not happen. The Public Safety community, I believe, stands united behind the acting Executive Director, TJ Kennedy to get the appointment full time. In the past two years many believe including myself, that TJ has earned the respect of the Public Safety community and despite the low salary the Government permits, has worked tirelessly on behalf of FirstNet and the Public Safety community. It would be hard to find a more dedicated or qualified person to head up FirstNet.

The conference was a mixture of different types of presentations all very good, some more technical than a number of those in the audience could understand and some, which were bothersome to me, were still tests and lab results about boomer (high level sites), Pre-emption, and several others that were billed as “modeling” examples from the PSCR Laboratory folks.

I have a problem with the fact that over 3 years has elapsed since the FirstNet bill was passed, there are LTE systems around the world including many that employ boomer sites, and there has been lots of work done in the commercial world on many of these topics yet the presentations seem to me at least to be those that should have been moved to the field for real world testing over a year ago. The PSCR is a very dedicated group of folks or as their director calls himself and them “geeks” but what we need is real world testing and not theories or “modeling” data at this point in time. Continue reading →

S&T To Demonstrate Malware Detection Technologies

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Many of us may have had experiences with an attempted cyberattack. Emails appearing to be from a friend or popular retailer could actually be criminals hoping to steal your social security number, email address, credit card numbers or intellectual property. When they happen to a company, these attacks can cost millions of dollars.

CDS Melware

 Through malware—short for “malicious software”, these criminals have been responsible for data breaches across the country, leaving companies scrambling to shore up their cybersecurity defenses and prevent future attacks. The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Cyber Security Division (CSD) has made it a top priority to develop tools to prevent these malware attacks before they can do harm.

“Our aim is to work with our private sector partners to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure systems and commercial marketplace,” said S&T Cyber Security Division Director Douglas Maughan. “Showcasing and, most importantly, transitioning these technologies into the commercial market will be impactful to all organizations engaged in securing cyberspace and protecting various organizations such as government, public utilities and healthcare.”

Interested in learning more? Read the full Snapshot Story. Do you have any questions about the publication? Please e-mail st.snapshots@hq.dhs.gov.

DHS S&T Selects University of Houston as Center of Excellence for Borders, Trade and Immigration Research

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WASHINGTON D.C.– The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T)  announced the selection of the University of Houston as the lead institution for a new DHS Center of Excellence (COE) for Borders, Trade and Immigration Research. S&T will provide the Center for Borders, Trade and Immigration Research with an initial $3.4 million grant for its first operating year.

“We are excited that the University of Houston will join our family of Centers to provide innovative solutions across these extremely important mission areas in the Department,” said S&T’s Office of University Programs (OUP) Director Matthew Clark, Ph.D., which manages the COE system.

Interested in learning more? Read the full S&T Press Release.

From Journal of Emergency Management, Is Your Planning Culturally Sensitive?

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Emergency managers need to develop cultural competence to better serve our communities.  By Lucien G. Canton | May 29, 2015

As emergency managers, we’re trained to provide assistance without regard to a person’s status. That is, we are neutral to their race, economic status, age, disabilities or any of the other designators we use in daily life. But should this neutrality extend to how we do our emergency plans?

An article in this month’s issue of the Journal of Emergency Management by Wayne Bergeron speaks to this issue. Entitled Considering culture in evacuation planning and consequence management, Bergeron’s paper examines the importance of culture in the provision of emergency services and suggests that emergency managers develop “cultural competence” to help them better serve the needs of increasingly diverse populations.

Read complete article here:  http://www.emergencymgmt.com/emergency-blogs/managing-crisis/Is-Your-Planning-Culturally-Sensitive.html

Submission to the Australian Government Productivity Commission’s Issues Paper, June 2015

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The University of Melbourne Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety made the attached submission to the Australian Productivity Commission in response to the Commission’s Public Safety Mobile Broadband Issues Paper.

http://npstc.org/download.jsp?tableId=37&column=217&id=3437&file=UoM_Submission_to_AGPC_PSMB_Study_Final_150602.pdf

 

 

Police Chief Magazine: The Consideration and Risks of Personal Comm Devices

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For Police Chief Magazine:  Leslie Stevens, Vice President, Legal, Lexipol, LLC

Technology and its use in the workplace is a topic that is (and should be) often discussed and considered by professionals in all fields, including law enforcement. The recent news coverage regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email accounts for official government business highlights several issues and serves as a reminder that the use of personal communication devices (PCDs) in the workplace requires particular attention.1

There are a variety of ways agencies currently handle PCDs in the workplace. Some agencies provide these devices to their employees, while others expect officers to use their own devices and may provide a stipend or reimburse employees for work-related use. Some agencies may prohibit officers from using their own PCDs for public business. Still others do not clearly define their expectations, which is a recipe for disaster. The use of PCDs such as smartphones and tablets for law enforcement business raises legal, safety, liability, and public perception issues. Agencies need to carefully consider each of these issues and clearly define their expectations to their members and to the public.

Read complete article here:  http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=3711&issue_id=52015

Police Chief Magazine: Efficacy of Police Body Cameras for Evidentiary Purposes: Fact or Fallacy?

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Craig E. Geis, MA, MBA, Lieutenant Colonel (ret.), U.S. Army, and David M. Blake, MSc, California Training Institute for Police Chief Magazine:  Police body cameras have become a hot topic in both law enforcement and the media. Studies and reviews are already showing some positive results of deploying cameras, but there is a lack of knowledge and education on the differences between the mechanisms involved in human sight and camera “sight.” Human eyes and camera lenses see, process, and recall information differently. It is important to understand the differences before using camera footage in use-of-force (UOF) or officer-involved shooting (OIS) investigations. The ramifications for not understanding the differences include inappropriate or unfair disciplinary actions, increased liability, and potential wrongful incarceration.

Read more here:  http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=3739&issue_id=52015

 

PSCR Seeks Practitioners for Speech Intelligibility and Video Quality Testing

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The Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) program is seeking practitioners to participate in speech intelligibility testing and video quality testing. Participate in PSCR speech intelligibility and video quality tests between June 22 and August 14, 2015 at the Boulder, Colorado labs (plan to spend one full day at our lab). PSCR is seeking active public safety practitioners (police, firefighters, EMS, FBI, etc.) and their command staff. One or more years of experience is required.

Volunteer Now to Participate — PSCR will cover your travel costs.  For more information please go here:  http://www.pscr.gov/about/highlights/av_testing_2015/