toward the end that the safety of

human life, the protection of

property and the civil welfare are

benefited to the utmost degree.

NESCA prepares, publishes and

distributes two newsletters yearly

for its membership. These publi-

cations contain technical, admin-

istrative, operational, training and

educational information consid-

ered of interest to the member-

ship of the Association and to

other people who are interested

in the field of public safety.

NESCA strives to improve the

quality of public safety commu-

nications in the State of Nebras-

ka and to foster professionalism

through the education of its

members.

Have you ever had to "Dial 911?"

Every day in Nebraska, there are

people who find themselves in

emergency situations where they

need help. The problem may be

a house fire, a prowler outside, a

loved one who is ill or injured, a

traffic collision or countless other

law enforcement, fire or emer-

gency medical situations. Ne-

braskans expect, and deserve,

that when they call for help,

someone will answer the tele-

phone who is capable of provid-

ing assistance. People expect

that an efficient, trained and pro-

fessional person will:

Get the information quickly; know

who and what to send, give in-

structions, provide for the safety

or responders, and be a caring

part of the public safety response

team.

NESCA fosters the development

and progress of the art of public

safety communications by a

means of planning, training and

education; promotes cooperation

between villages, towns, cities,

county and state public safety

agencies in the area of communi-

cations; represents its members

before communications regulato-

ry agencies and policy making

bodies as may be appropriate,

and through its efforts, strives

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

Conference Notes 2-5

Letter from President 5

Historian 6

Awards 6

Around the State, Birth-

days, Work Anniversaries

7

P u r p o s e o f N E S C A

NESCA Nebraska Emergency

Service Communications Association V O L U M E 2 0 1 6 , I S S U E 0 1 J U N E

The Nebraska Emergency Communications Association (NESCA) is an organization of Public Safety Communicators in Nebraska. The Association was created with the adoption of a Constitution and Bylaws on Octo-ber 10, 1985. Since that time, the organization has grown to over 300 members.

NESCA was created to foster the development and progress of public safety communications in Nebraska. Several people were instrumental in organizing the Association. There was a strong belief that Nebraska needed an organization to provide training and education, planning, and increased cooperation between public safety agencies.

Annually, NESCA sponsors two conferences with a primary em-phasis on education. At various times, NESCA conducts special conferences to examine key issues related to public safety communications. In addition, NESCA recognizes a Communica-tor of the Year for outstanding performance. Finally, NESCA is the lead organization for provid-ing instruction for public safety communications education at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center.

This brief history will only be shadowed by the future! NESCA continues to grow in numbers and accomplishments. Our goal is to have as many public safety communicators as possible help us to reach the stars!

NESCA fosters the development and progress of the art of public safety communications by means of plan-

ning, training, and education; promotes cooperation between villages, towns, cities and county public safety

agencies in the area of communications; represents its members before communications regulatory agencies

and policy making bodies as may be appropriate, and through its efforts strives toward the end that the safety

of human life, the protection of property and the civil welfare are benefited to the utmost degree. Another

purpose of NESCA is to aid and assist in the rapid and accurate collection, exchange and dissemination of

information relating to emergencies and other vital public safety functions. NESCA shall prepare, publish and

distribute such publications as may be deemed necessary, reasonable and proper. These publications shall

contain technical, administrative, operational, training and educational information considered of interest to the

membership of this Association and to other people who are interested in the field of public safety communi-

cations. NESCA shall organize and conduct various conferences and training programs designed to improve

the quality of public safety communications in the State of Nebraska and to foster professionalism through the

education of its members.

P A G E 2

Spring Conference The NESCA Spring Conference was held in Kearney at the Ramada Inn on April 18-19, 2016.

This year’s conference attendees are as follows. Those in RED are NESCA Board Members. Those in PURPLE are Past Presi-dents. Those in GREEN are past presidents still residing on the board of directors. Pete Peterson (Keith County Sheriff's Office), Melinda Baker (North Platte Police Department), Caitlyn Burkhardt (Region 26 Com-munications), Troy Cordle (Grand Island Emergency Center), Jorden Dick (Buffalo County Sheriff's Office), Sue Everett (Buffalo County Sheriff's Office), Larry Gibbons (NSP Holdrege), Shelly Holzerland (Fremont/Dodge Co. Comm.), Heidi Hupke (Madison County Sheriff's Office), Nicole Lund (Cuming County Dispatch), Lola Merrigan (Frontier County Sheriff’s Office), Tom Prevo (NSP Lincoln), Richard Fyock (Boyd Holt E911, Jennifer Ramold (Boyd Holt E911), Jackie Hunt (Custer County Communications), Carla Jones (Southeast Communications), Shiann Tucker (Custer County Communications), Pam Stapleman (Boone County Sheriff’s Office), Jamy Lawson (Scotts Bluff County Communications), Tara Erickson (Nemaha County Sheriff’s Office), Christopher Jarmin (Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office), Sarah Wortman (Madison County Sheriff’s Office), Kathy Eley (Hastings Police Department), Sha-ron Tillotson (McCook Police Department), Eileen Ibach (Knox County Sheriff’s Office), Tiffany Rupp (Holdrege Police Department), Vicki Hawthorne (Merrick County Sheriff's Office), and Kristin Keys (Region 26) The 2016 NESCA Spring Conference opened with the business meeting hosted by Past President Shelly Holzerland. See the web-site for conference minutes at www.nesca911.com.

The first class of the conference was the Technology Update by Pete Peterson. Pete talked about the status of the wireless 911 fund and spoke extensively on texting to 911. Texting to 911 is in Douglas and Buffalo coun-ties however the technology is not yet there to get a location on a texter, they need to know where they are. Pete also spoke about Next Generation 911, including having MDT’s in fire trucks and ambulances to aid in their dispatch. They will have the location and details on the call right at their fingertips. Pete also talked about interoperability and making sure your different agencies (fire departments, law enforce-

ment, etc.) can talk to each other during emergency situations. He discussed mutual channels and the SRS radio system. FirstNet was also discussed. It’s a federal program to leave so much bandwidth available for law enforcement only so that we don’t run into jammed cell towers during an emergency. Jorden Dick and Sue Everett of Buffalo County then spoke about a recent text to 911 calls that was taken in Kearney from a young girl who was riding in a car with her father and he was very intoxicated. They texted back and forth on location, with her father never realizing it, until he was stopped and arrested. This is exactly the scenario that text to 911 was created for. There was no way that child could have called 911 without her father realizing what she was doing. The next class was hosted by Mike Moritz of the National Weather Service. Mike didn’t speak about torna-does in particular but how information about severe weather is disseminated, i.e. teletype, NAWAS, etc. He showed us the form that is used for the teletype watches and warnings which are set up so the meteorologist can get those teletypes out in less than a minute. Mike told us that every private weather service (WeatherBug, weather underground, etc.) gets their radar image from the National Weather Service so whichever you choose to run; you’re getting the same image. The private company may change the map colors, but it’s the same image.

Following lunch, Kimberley Hughes from State Probation spoke on juvenile probation. Juvenile probationers are very difficult to work with because they don’t have the fear of prison. They also get involved with out-of-state runaways and keeping the care of them until they are picked up by their parents. Probation does not need immediate notification on any offense that will involve just a citation and release (shoplifting, etc.) but only felonies where the juvenile has to be housed somewhere. On misdemeanors, Proba-tion will get a copy of the report the next day.

When there is a juvenile intake, they must be placed somewhere within 6 hours and have a court date within 48 hours. Dealing with juvenile probations is especially time consuming because every time a juvenile is moved to another facility or has any type of status

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 2

change, the parents/guardian and the courts have to be notified. Probation almost always have law enforcement accompany them on a home search and they do not need probable cause for a search. They normally do not search the parents’ property but generally just the juvenile probationer’s room. Home searchers can either be prompted by a tip that the juvenile is violating the terms of his probation, but more often than not, are a random search. Pro-bation also keeps track of their probationers through social media as kids tend to post where they are at all times. Juveniles also need a travel permit from their probation officer in order to leave the county. The NSP Question and Answer session was presented by Tom Prevo, Larry Gibbons and Steve Carey of the Nebraska State Patrol. The FBI is doing audits in several cities and counties in August. It will cover administra-tive procedures, criminal histories, etc. Tom reminded us that Attempt to Locate messages are for routine instances for property left behind, parties over-due, etc. They are never to be used for suicidal subjects, armed subjects, and history of violence, not taking pre-scribed medication or check welfares. Parties should always be entered into NCIC as missing or another venue for these instances. This is becoming a serious officer safety question because the officer may not have seen the attempt to locate message and when he runs the subject or the plate, he won’t get a hit. Your agency could also be sued if this subject is found dead and it was later found he was never entered. Larry reminded us that there is no need to cancel a broadcast if the original was sent out more than 24 hours ago. Also, don ’t assign another message number to the cancel but use the original. Larry also reminded us to make sure you’re clicking the box at the top of NCIC entries from misdemeanor to felony, depending on what your warrant is. Also make sure you have the right extradition code when you make the entry. Some of the courts are issuing Infraction Warrants. An infraction doesn’t even rise to the level of a misdemeanor. These are being entered as misdemeanors in NCIC and it doesn’t even meet the seriousness of a misdemeanor. Infractions are usually a city code violation and shouldn’t be entered into NCIC at all.

Datamaxx is working on a new addition to the NCIC Missing Person File. It is called PWI and refers to Per-sons with Information. If a toddler or infant is abducted and it’s unknown who the child was taken by, but the family knows of someone who may have information, they can be entered with this code. Steve talked about Omnixx log-ins. If you sign in and get a message that says SYS_Err it means you have been logged out of your account. If this happens, call the State Patrol so your account can be reactivated. You can get this error if you enter your password incorrectly three times. If you can’t log in the first time,

check the caps lock button first before continuing to re-enter the wrong password until you’re locked out. If you forget your password, there is a hyperlink that will set you through prompts which may allow you to reset your password. If you have any issues, call the State Patrol. It is a major violation to use someone else’s account. If Omnixx freezes up during normal usage or after computer updates, try restarting it. You can also right click on the task bar which will give you a menu to force the application to close. Remember also that Omnixx will not start while Microsoft updates are loading. Several agencies are having printer problems with the teletype. There are printers on order but it is unknown when they’ll be in. The state has ordered Brother printers since they had so much trouble with the Dell printers. The cost of the ink cartridges will be much lower for agencies as well. Only fifty printers were ordered at this time. The state wants them tested to make sure they’ll work better than the Dells. If you have a request for a new account, send the request to the CLEIN Help Desk, not to just Steve Carey. If Steve is out of town, the account won’t get set up until he gets back. If you send it to the help desk, there are other people that can set it up. They also need to know if the person applying has been NCIC certified, or is currently NCIC certified somewhere else. There will soon be a new form out for new dispatchers. It must be signed by the TAC officer to guarantee that all proper background checks have been made on the new employee. If an employee has a felony conviction, his application will be denied, even if he has a governor’s pardon. A var iance may be granted, but it will have to be substantially reviewed. If you have a problem after 5:00 p.m. contact the NSP office in Lincoln at 402-471-4545. The e-mail address for the CLEIN Help Desk is nsp.clein@Nebraska.gov. Use this e-mail for non-emergencies.

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 3

P A G E 4

Spring Conference, continued

NSP is always interested in how the CLEIN network (including NCIC, NLETS and other databases) has helped your agency. They

are especially interested in you, as a terminal operator, being instrumental in using the system to assist your law enforcement offic-

ers. Contact Tom, Larry or Steve with your success stories!

Tuesday morning opened with the US Department of Transportation National Traffic Incident Management class

hosted by Rick Dunham of the State Roads Department and Joel Bergen with the Nebraska State Patrol.

The purpose of the class was to recognize the dangers encountered on the road by emergency responders.

The course gave instruction from the time of the initial 911 call to the conclusion of the incident. In an average

year, 77 responders are killed every year at emergency situations on the road. This includes law enforcement

officers, fire and rescue personnel and towing professionals. This equals one responder fatality every six days. The rule used to be

to leave vehicles where the crash occurred until law enforcement arrive. Now it is highly recommended to get the vehicles off to the

shoulder or off the roadway completely so a secondary crash doesn’t occur. Advise drivers of the Driver Removal Law and instruct

them to move vehicles off the roadway if there are no injuries.

The last class of the conference was the South Platte River Tragedy presented by Sheriff Jerome Kramer and Sgt. Larry Meyer of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office in North Platte. This was an incident that occurred on May 18, 2015 where a vehicle with two teenagers drove into the South Platte River. The road was actually closed at the time due to heavy flooding in the area.

One of the biggest problems in the investigation was social media and all the rumors that were posted. Conspir-acy theories were out of control with rumors of a shooting, kidnapping, a drug deal gone bad and other falsities. wasting a lot of the investigators’ resources. At the time of the accident, the Platte in that area was 18 feet deep and rap id. It was concluded that this was a recovery operation, not a rescue, and it was decided that no personnel should be put in danger in the fast running flood waters. Sgt. Meyer spoke of the difficulties in dealing with family, friends and the media until the vehicle and victims could finally be removed from the river on July 7th.

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 4

RAFFLE WINNERS

Nicole Lund, Cuming County; Jackie Hunt, Custer County 911; Carla Jones, Southeast 911;

Crystal Johnson, Harlan County Sheriff’s Office; Richard Fyock, Boyd/Holt E911; Jennifer

Ramold, Boyd/Holt E911; Pam Stapleman, Boone County Sheriff’s Office; Eileen Ibach, Knox

County Sheriff’s Office; Troy Cordle, 911 Hall County; Sue Everett, Buffalo County Sheriff’s

Office; Sharon Tillotson, McCook Police Department; Melinda Baker, North Platte Police De-

partment; Larry Meyer, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office; Tara Erickson, Nemaha County Sher-

iff’s Office; Jerome Kramer, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Crystal Johnson, Harlan County

Sheriff’s Office and the $100.00 Walmart gift card was won by Eileen Ibach of the Knox Coun-

ty Sheriff’s Office.

As I am writing this, I was just reminded that it is now the first day of Summer 2016. Summer, I believe started a few days ago with all of the 100+ degree weather. I pray that you are all trying to find a way to stay cool. If your office is anything like my office, you may just want to go outside to warm up. The officers I work with at night seem to want to freeze my out and I’m usually wearing a sweater. I was reading through the notes that Sue Everett took in my absence during this year’s Spring Conference. It appears, from Sue’s notes, those of us who were unable to attend missed a very informative conference. As your NESCA board, we try to include sessions that are informative to everyone and deal with current events in our area of Nebraska. I realize that we cannot satisfy everyone, but we do try our best. This is why we have the surveys for the attendees to complete. Without the surveys, we would not have the sense of what the NESCA members are looking for at conference. Those of you who are unable to attend have an input as well as far as the conference sessions go. If any-one, at any given time, has an idea for an upcoming conference, please contact any of the current board members listed in this newsletter. Times are certainly changing and technology is growing. I hear that there are numerous changes across the state in different communications center, York County Sheriff’s Office with York Police Department to be included. From what I understand, on July 1st of this year, the York County Sheriff’s Office will taking and dispatching all 911 calls within York County. This will be a tremendous change to all of the dispatchers in York County. It’s a little scary, when thinking about it, and I am sure there will be “bugs” to workout. As with all changes, time will surely work everything out. Legislation also continues with the communication centers, 911, and the ever changing need for technology sophistica-tion. Please make sure to check the Nebraska Legislative website to help you keep informed. Shelly Holzerland contin-ues to work on her projects with others to maintain the continuity of the communication centers.

Click the photo to read our Legislative Bill currently being worked on

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 5

Letter from the President

P A G E 6

At this time, we do not have a NESCA Historian. Sue Everett is taking on the role of interim Historian until we find a

NESCA member to volunteer for the position. The Historian is responsible for taking photos at the conferences and dur-

ing our Annual Awards Banquet, maintaining scrapbooks containing photos of staff and communications centers

throughout the state. One goal of the Historian is to obtain photos from each communications center for a special scrap-

book project. Please submit, via email, your JPEG ready photos to Sue Everett at sueandmickie@yahoo.com

The deadline for the Public Safety Communicator of the Year award is fast approaching. All nominations must be re-

ceived by the NESCA Event Coordinator no later than July 5th of the current year. The incident for which the person is

nominated must have occurred between July 1st of the previous year and June 30th of the current year. Mail any nomi-

nations to NESCA Event Coordinator. Click on the following link to review the criteria and procedure as well as the ad-

dress where to submit your nominations.

For the Public Safety Communicator of the Year document, click HERE.

The deadline for the EMD of the Year award is fast approaching. All nominations must be received by the NESCA Event

Coordinator no later than July 5th of the current year. The incident for which the person is nominated must have oc-

curred between July 1st of the previous year and June 30th of the current year. Mail any nominations to NESCA Event

Coordinator. Click on the following links to review the criteria and procedures for each as well as the address where to

submit your nominations.

For the EMD of the Year document, click HERE.

At the 1999 Fall Conference, the NESCA Board of Directors created the Jud Reed Lifetime Achievement Award. This

award was created in the memory of Scotts Bluff County Communications Director Jud Reed who had devoted his life to

the public safety field. The award is slated to be presented annually to a NESCA member, in the Nebraska public safety

field, in recognition for outstanding service to others through training, good judgment and devotion to the communica-

tions field.

For the Jud Reed document, click HERE.

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 6

Message from the Historian

Public Safety Communicator of the Year Award

Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year Award

Jud Reed Award

Scotts Bluff County Communications: Our new Communications Advisory Board celebrated its second anniversary in February 2016. Our advisory board works with selecting hardware, software and negotiating service agreements. Scotts Bluff County Consolidated Communications serves 13 (thirteen) communities with nine law enforcement agencies and eleven fire departments. We have had several changes in staffing. Chris Johnson left us to go to work in Cabela’s IT department in Sidney, Norma Manquera left and purchased a local restaurant, and Tana Davi returned to her home state of Wyoming. Our new hires are Heather Doggett, Stacey Fisher, Lisa Carlisle, and Hillary Stoddard. We recently tested for a full time position. Thirteen people submitted applications with seven people taking the written exams and six people advancing to the interview portion of the process. Ultimately, we hired Mike Adkins of Mitchell, Ne. We now have four work stations on line. We have added tactical radio channels to our public schools. Final implementation of Zetron Call Taking and Max has taken place. We continue conversations with our stake holders for the selection of new CAD and RMS. The RFP is expected to be released in early June 2016. Our regional Amateur Radio Club remains very helpful when our PSAP needs eyes and ears in critical locations during large incidents. NCJIS training continues. The NCIC teletype pilot project in State using NRIN as the portal is on hold due some challenges with the micro-wave path calculations to out Minatare tower site. TEXT to 9-1-1 is close to being launched. Schedules have been established with our Text Control Center for testing. We are starting with the TTY SMS platform and will migrate to platform yet to be determined. AT&T Mobility is the first wireless provider to step forward for testing. A push button MAYDAY app has been built for our regional fire fighters. If a firefighter is down or in serious danger they can trigger a MAYDAY discipline on their portable radio. A fire fighters radio will activate an audible alarm that will notify personnel on scene as well as alerting the PSAP of who is in danger. Our Mutual Aid Base Station Common usage channels are on hold until we obtain a stable micro wave path from our PSAP to our tower near Lake Minatare and then on to Angora NET tower site. NEMA is assisting with the help of Cornerstone Tower. Compliance with Kari’s Law continues to grow. More businesses are becoming compliant with the multiple phone line systems directive for 911 access. We just concluded helping with the first annual Robidoux Quick and Dirty 75 mile bike race. The Sugar Valley Rally, second largest antique car rally in America is in June; and the Old West Balloon Fest in set for Labor Day weekend with more hot air balloons than last year. In 2015 over 12,000 people came out to watch the event. With the help of the Scottsbluff Fire Department we deployed the Mobile Command Trailer to assist with communications on site between pilots, law enforcement, fire department and emergency medi-cal specialists.

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 7

News from Dispatch Centers Around the State

Birthdays and Work Anniversaries

Name Agency Birthday Work Anniversary

P A G E 8

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 8

2015 - 2016 Board Members President, Newsletter Editor

Teresa Johnson York Police Department

2nd Vice President Heidi Hupke Madison County Sheriff’s Office

1st Vice President Cora Calkins

Boyd/Holt E911

Executive Coordinator, Treasurer & Historian Sue Everett Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office

Secretary Nicole Lund

Cuming County Communications

Board Member at Large Melinda Baker North Platte Police Department

Board Member at Large Troy Cordle

Grand Island Emergency Center

Past President Shelly Holzerland Fremont/Dodge County Communications

TRAINING COMMITTEE:

Pete Peterson, Keith County Communications

Larry Gibbons, Nebraska State Patrol

Connie Kramer, North Platte Police Department

Nicole Lund, Cuming County Communications

Tom Prevo, Nebraska State Patrol

Shelly Holzerland, Fremont/Dodge Co.

Barb Liska, Seward County Communications

Sheryl Machacek, Boone Co. SO

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE:

Shelly Holzerland

You can always check the NLETC website for all upcoming training classes, click HERE.

September 18-20, 2016 NESCA Fall Conference – Kearney Ramada Inn

October 3 2016 Basic Dispatcher Training – NLETC Grand Island

If you have a link to a certain page that you believe will help in further information, training, or related to our

field of work, please provide it to me and I will get in the next newsletter.

NESCA on Facebook - Make sure and join our page for communication updates and chatting. This is a media

form for discussion amongst us dispatchers. So far there are 22 members to our page, so please join us.

Diary of a Mad Dispatcher’s on Facebook

NESCA

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 9

2015 - 2016 Committee Members

Important Dates to Remember

Website Links for Dispatchers

P A G E 1 0

ARTICLE DEADLINE FOR NEWSLETTERS:

Newsletter articles are due into the Newsletter Editor no later than May 15th and November 15th each year.

Noteworthy articles regarding the following are requested for newsletter publications:

New hires with optional photograph

Department recognition/promotions with optional photograph

Department remodels with optional photograph

Department photographs

Retirements with optional photograph

Weddings with optional photograph

Births with optional photograph

Birthdays with optional photograph

Employment and/or wedding anniversaries with optional photograph

Any other noteworthy item you would like published with optional photo

Please send your articles and/or photos to Teresa Johnson at teresaj.nesca@gmail.com. You can also send

these to Teresa through the mail at:

Teresa M. Johnson

1217 N Blackburn Av

York NE 68467-2009

When you have a few spare minutes in your very busy days, please remember to visit the NESCA website for

important information pertaining to our organization. You will also find a link for your department to download

and use the EMD cards, which are a wonderful help when taking 911 calls.

As the editor of our NESCA newsletter, I want to ensure that all members are receiving his/her own copy of

the newsletter that is emailed every June and December. If you are not receiving you own copy of the news-

letter, this means that I do not have a current/valid email address for you and am sending it to your agency’s

email address that I have on file. I would greatly appreciate your time if you would simply email me at tere-

saj.nesca@gmail.com to provide me with your personal email address to ensure you will receive future copies

of the newsletter and updated information that pertains to our organization.

Another request from all dispatchers and law enforcement officers that receive the bi-annual newsletter is to

have your MONTH of birth as well as the MONTH/YEAR that you began as a dispatcher. I have made a place in the news-

letter to celebrate birthdays and dispatch anniversaries. Simply email the information to me, once again at tere-

saj.nesca@gmail.com.

Thank you in advance for the information you are providing to me.

Teresa Johnson,

1st Vice President/Newsletter editor

NESCA

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 1 0

Article Deadline for Newsletters

NESCA Website

Editor’s Note

Click on the photos for a larger display or printable option!

N E B R A S K A E M E R G E N C Y S E R V I C E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S P A G E 1 1