On July 16, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) transitioned from its previous ten-digit phone number to the 988 dialing code.

How will 988 and 9-1-1 work together?
In rare but critical circumstances — less than 2% of the time — counselors will determine via their protocols that someone is at imminent risk of harming themselves or someone else. In these situations, the Lifeline will contact 9-1-1 to dispatch emergency services.

988 is not able to directly transfer a call to 9-1-1. Because of that, the Lifeline counselor must relay the information to the 9-1-1 dispatcher.

If I get a call from a 988 Lifeline counselor requiring dispatch, what should I do?
If the Lifeline counselor has location information, follow your existing protocols for emergency dispatch.

If the Lifeline counselor is not able to provide location information, they may ask you to initiate a geolocation lookup with the wireless carrier or Internet service provider (ISP). Note: The Lifeline does everything it can to get a location; however, 988 does not have access to geolocation data for incoming contacts. 

Click here to learn more. 

NENA seeks to fill a vacancy on the Education Advisory Board (EAB) — the team charged with carrying out NENA’s educational mission. Candidates are required to be NENA members in good standing who possess the skills necessary to support and direct NENA’s educational mission and goals. Candidates holding the Emergency Number Professional (ENP) certification are preferred.

Learn more about the commitments associated with serving on the EAB at nena.org/eab-purpose. Applications are due by Friday, August 19.

Click here to apply.

The Monitoring Association's (TMA) Alarm Validation Standard provides a method of creating an alarm scoring or classification metric for unauthorized human activity detected by alarm systems that will assist law enforcement with resource allocation and Call-for-Service prioritization.

All comments must be received through the TMA website no later than 8:00 PM Eastern on September 13, 2022. All interested may access the draft document here and the TMA online comment form here.

Click here to view an on-demand webinar about the standard.

Contact Bryan Ginn if you have any questions or comments.

The NENA Requirements for 3D Location Data for E9-1-1 and NG9-1-1 document establishes consensus requirements for operationalizing the use of 3D location data for 9-1-1. Specifically, this document provides concrete guidance for implementing recent FCC z-axis location requirements at the PSAP and communications center, and throughout the 9-1-1 ecosystem. The document assists the  9-1-1 community in operationalizing 3D location information delivered with 9-1-1 calls, as recently required by the FCC.

This document is divided into three parts:

• Informative material on the regulatory and technical background on 3D location in 9-1-1;
• Practical guidelines for implementing 3D location information in 9-1-1 systems today, including configuration and construction of 3D mapping information; and
• Calls for future standards work, including revisions to LoST, PIDF-LO, dispatchable location methods including civic address uncertainty, and handling of 3D shapes and structures in NG9-1-1—including initial work contributions to those efforts.

NENA has partnered with Pathfinder Resilience and Dr. Renee Thornton to provide resources to help 9-1-1 professionals navigate adversity and make self-care accessible to everyone in public safety. At Pathfinder Resilience, evidence-based, culturally-competent curriculum and training validation is paramount. Dr. Thornton is considered a pioneer in the field of public safety wellness and enhancing workforce performance. She has worked with numerous law enforcement agencies, focusing on improving individual health and its implications on recruiting and retention, risk management, and organizational behavior.

Click here to view the four articles now available and check back often for new and updated content! 

ECRF and LVF implementations are beginning to occur across the US and Canada and the NENA Standard for the Provisioning and Maintenance of GIS Data to ECRFs and LVFs needs to be updated. Much has occurred in standards work since this document’s initial release that must be addressed in a second version of the ECRF/LVF standard. A complete editorial and clarification read-through will be performed after specific tasks outlined in the working group charter are addressed.

Contributors to the working group must have knowledge of NG9-1-1 and, in particular, the role of the LVF and ECRF in NGCS.  The working group will benefit from having participants that are GIS/SI/ECRF/LVF vendors, as well as those from 9-1-1 agencies or GIS data providers with experience in maintaining and provisioning their existing systems (or who are actively engaged in implementation/deployment of systems). Knowledge of one or more of the following standards/documents is preferred: i3 Architecture, NG9-1-1 GIS Data Model, CLDXF, LVF Consistency, GIS Data Stewardship. The first weekly meeting will be on Tuesday, August 2 at 11AM Eastern.

Click here to volunteer!

A newly-formed NENA/APCO Work Group will review and revise the Standard for the Establishment of a Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement (QA/QI) Program for Emergency Communication Centers (ECCs). The revision of this standard will provide uniform methods to evaluate the delivery of service by 9-1-1 personnel to ensure high standards of performance.

Click here to sign up by August 1.