“How do I run a center if I have to quarantine 75% of my people?” considered Mulholland. The employee turned out not to have the virus, but if they had been infected during the time the employee had been at work, it could have been very problematic. One of the Center’s staff had been showing symptoms of COVID-19 while at work and in contact with about 75% of the center staff. In Arlington County, he had recently installed the Motorola Solutions VESTA 9-1-1 call handling system, and with it had purchased a remote desktop product called VESTA CommandPOST, which hadn’t yet been put into operation. It took the reality of the COVID pandemic to realize how these remote desktop units could be used in the event his ECC’s staffing was significantly reduced by the pandemic.
In November 2019, Alexandria rolled-out remote call-taking, an implementation closely watched by Mulholland. So, what do I do when people can’t come to work? The first natural step was remote call-taking.”Īrlington County’s PSAP shares a 911 system with its sister city of Alexandria. “We’re a mid-sized center and at any given time, like the rest of the country, we have significant staffing shortages. “It was the pandemic that forced the issue, but it was the compounding factors of all these other things that were going on as well,” said Dave Mulholland, Arlington County’s ECC administrator. Developing remote operationsĪrlington County’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) management began considering a remote call center concept during table-top exercises that involved multiple simultaneous major events coupled with staffing shortages.
What are the pandemic’s effects on staffing within the ECC if dispatch center staff are quarantined or otherwise prevented from reporting to work? (Photo/Arlington County Emergency Communications Center)Īrlington County, Virginia, was one of the first PSAPs to adopt the concept of remote call-taking last year, and this year became one of the first to deploy remote dispatch and supervision, giving a significant edge to telecommunicator staffing, safety, supervision and stability during these trying times. 64% of respondents reported that their PSAP had no capability for remote PSAP operations, only 30% reported they can work remotely from a separate public-safety or government facility, and only 7% indicated the ability to do so from home.” In an April 2020 survey of 911 PSAPs entitled “Initial Impacts of COVID-19 on 9-1-1 Centers,” members of the National Emergency Number Association wrote: “Despite the technical feasibility of a work-from-home telecommunicator or dispatcher in the modern era of cloud services, remote desktop, and broadband internet, few Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) responding to the survey have the ability to operate PSAP functions remotely at all, let alone from a telecommunicator’s home. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Emergency Communications Center (ECC) managers have been concerned about their operational systems becoming overwhelmed by record numbers of calls, but what happens when the COVID-related emergency isn’t just a call from members of the public? What are the pandemic’s effects on staffing within the ECC if dispatch center staff are quarantined or otherwise prevented from reporting to work? This allows the ECC to maintain operations during large-scale emergencies that could compromise its ability to maintain operational readiness, even when employees are unable to report to the 911 center. Last month, the Arlington County Emergency Communications Center (ECC) became one of the nation’s first centers to activate remote dispatching, allowing staff to work when necessary from a remote location, including from home.
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