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The 112 Newsletter, Issue 15
European Emergency Number Association - EENA 112
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If you believe our action can contribute to improve 112 services in Europe, feel free to support the association. EENA is a non-for-profit assocation only based on voluntary contributions.
European Commission takes steps to ensure that emergency services can locate callers
The time has come for a closer surveillance
Read here the all correspondance between EENA and the European Authorities
11th Report on the Implementation of the
Telecommunications Regulatory Package - 2005
The official 112 implementation in the EU as disseminated by the European Commission
This document has been distributed by Commissioner Viviane Reding's administration during last 11th October press conference on the 112. Since that day EENA has been asking to get access to the methodology developped behind these results.
Read the synthesis here (56KB)Until there is no quality criteria on the all chain of the 112 services this will happen more and more often...
The Greek National Centre for Emergency Medicine (EKAB) has been condemned to pay an idemnity of 380.000 euros to the family of a 41 year-old driver who died at a car accident. According to the decision of the Court, the members of crew of the ambulance did not act as expected when they arrived on the spot of the accident and are therefore responsible for his death. The court decided that a sum of 120.000 euros must be paid immediately to the family of the victim even if EKAB introduced a request for annulment.
The victim, a taxi driver, was traped in December 1998 in his vehicle after it crashed on the Patras-Athesn highway. He was bleeding as a piece of metal has cut of his leg. The crew of the EKAB ambulance which arrived on the spot did nothing to stop the bleeding (apprently waiting for other emergency services to free the entraped person) and the victim died soon after he was admited in hospital. It must be noted that the case was brought initially against the State for construction vices of the protective parts of the highway, but the court decided that the construction was correct and the death was due to the lack of action of the ambulance crew.
The above story was reported in Greek newspapers of the 17th of January 2006 and proves that legally binding quality standards for the services provided by Emergency Services are still far from established in the European Union.
Early Warning Systems
Last 31st January 2006, the "Directorate General for Information Society and Media" of the European Commission held its Info Day in Paris, kindly hosted by UNESCO-IOC. The aim of this meeting was to launch its call for research proposals in the area of Tsunami Early Warning Systems (TEWS). We wish to inform you that the presentations have now been uploaded for public consultation on the EUROPA website
Should you intend on submitting a proposal in this area, we would appreciate it if you could pre-register
Rapid Response and Preparedness Instrument for major emergencies
Non-emergency number to handle drug dealing By David Barrett, PA
Drug dealing will be among the crimes handled by the new single non-emergency number, it was disclosed today.
The 101 number, designed to take pressure off the 999 system, will also cover intimidation and harassment, vandalism, graffiti and other criminal damage, the Home Office said.
People concerned about "drug-related anti-social behaviour" will be told to dial 101 the announcement said, but an internal Home Office website said this would include drug dealers.
Each call will cost 10p in a bid to deter time-wasters.
Five areas - Hampshire, Northumbria, Cardiff, Sheffield and two areas in Leicestershire, Leicester City and Rutland County - will pilot the scheme this summer and it will be rolled out across England and Wales by 2008.
Local councils and police forces will work together to handle calls to the new service.
Police Minister Hazel Blears said: "In 2004 there were around 10 million calls to the 999 emergency service, around 70% of which were not emergencies.
"The single non-emergency service will operate around the clock and put callers directly in touch with specially-trained operators for information and advice on non-emergency matters.
"This will mean that 999 services can function more effectively and provide a faster response to emergency incidents."
101 operators will be able to transfer calls to 999 if the incident needs an emergency response.
The Home Office said the service would also deal with noisy neighbours, abandoned vehicles, rubbish and fly-tipping, people being drunk or rowdy in public places, and street lighting.
The non-emergency number was first mooted by the Home Office in 2001 and former Home Secretary David Blunkett announced the decision to go ahead in September 2004.
Mike Goodwin, of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: "Misuse of the current 999 service can seriously detract police resources away from genuine emergencies such as when there is a crime in progress or a life in danger.
"We hope that this facility will not only improve access to non-emergency police and local authority services but will also greatly reduce misuse of 999 by callers."
Gijs de Vries argues for communitisation of third pillar to fight organised crime
"The sooner the EU can move to qualified majority voting and a stronger role for the Court, as agreed by all the Governments in the draft constitutional treaty, the better," said Gijs de Vries, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator, at a conference on the fight against financing terrorism in The Hague on 15 and 16 March. Giving a global picture of European legislation in this area, Mr de Vries pointed the finger at third pillar instruments as being of "limited use" in fighting crime. He considered it regrettable, given the length of the process, that conventions and framework decisions "require unanimity in the Council and subsequent approval in all 25 national Parliaments". Also, Austria and the United Kingdom have still not fully implemented the 2001 framework decision on money laundering and other instruments, and the Parliaments in several Member States have still not approved the first Europol Protocol to which Member States agreed in 2000. Mr de Vries highlighted too the "lack of competence" of the EU Court of Justice in this area and the fact that the Commission "lacks its regular powers" to request the Court to rule on national implementing measures.
News from our national delegate in Croatia, Nenad Mladieno
Croatia introduced European emergency number 112 on 1st January 2005. However, the former phone numbers for the police 92, fire brigades 93 and medical emergency 94 still operate. By dialling the number 112 the county centres that are within recently founded "National Protection and Rescue Directorate" can be reached. In the next three to five years a stepwise centralisation of the whole county's emergency functions into the single 112 number is planned, according to the European standards, altogether regarding to the expecting forthcoming Croatian EU membership. Last winter, the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Split, completed a pilot project for the 112 centre of Split-Dalmatia County which covers the most of the Adriatic coast and during the summer hosts many tourists. It also covers the areas suitable for the very popular extreme sports.
Basing on the pilot project, State Directorate decided that first contemporary equipped Centre 112 should be established in Split, therefore a call for the 112 Centre's equipment was launched. The call initiated huge interest, so 22 firms bought the tender documentation. Very strong demands for technical, technological as well as systemic solutions, along with the relatively short deadline of the call (fifteen days) were probably the reasons that the call which was concluded on 22nd February ended up with only four applications, namely: Combis (with CML), Ericsson, Siemens and S&T (with Innovative). In their submissions, all applicants included collaborative firms from Croatia that cover application of GIS, telecommunication technology etc.
112 centre in Split will be the best equipped 112 centre in south-eastern part of the Europe and evidently an example for the all region. Therefore its implementation and putting into the function by the end of the August has been impatiently expected.
Events
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), GLOBALCOMM, and the E9-1-1 Institute invite you to take part to the CIO Summit focused on emergency communications that will be held on Sunday, June 4, 2006 in conjunction with the GLOBALCOMM annual conference in Chicago, Illinois, USA. For the first time, TIA has established a special venue to discuss emergency communications in which they have asked the E9-1-1 Institute to specifically put together a high-level panel discussion that will explore E9-1-1 and 1-1-2 issues in the EU.
The E9-1-1 Institute is a not-for-profit organization which provides administrative and policy support to the Congressional E9-1-1 Caucus. The Co-Chairs of the Congressional E9-1-1 Caucus are Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT), Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Representative John Shimkus (R-IL). The purpose of the E9-1-1 Institute is to promote pubic education and awareness of E9-1-1 and emergency communications issues and serve the Congressional E9-1-1 Caucus as a clearinghouse of information on E9-1-1 and emergency communications issues. Gregory L. Rohde, former Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, serves as the E9-1-1 Institute's Executive Director.
EENA was there
After two years of user requirement analysis, technical development, prototype production, and successful field trials, the SCORE (Service of Coordinated Operational Emergency & Rescue using EGNOS) project was presented to the public during a one-day workshop and public demonstration taking place at the premises of SNBPC in Portugal on 3 March 2006.
EENA and the media
EENA wrote to Harry Potter
Contribution
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