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Former high DHS officials, lawmakers oppose new FCC plan for public safety band
Former DHS officials, lawmakers oppose the FCC’s latest plan for reallocating the U.S. limited airwaves; they say the plan could endanger public safety by limiting the ability of first responders to communicate during crises like 9/11
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Yarn passes in-vehicle flame test
Fire in an enclosed space, such as an aircraft, is extremely dangerous as occupants can die from smoke inhalation before there is any danger from the flames. Flame-retardant materials delay the spread of fire, but these typically contain halogenated substances that emit thick black smoke and toxic gases; new material developed which meets halogen-free flame-retardant regulations
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Public safety networks still can not communicate with each other
Two decades after the initiation of the effort to bring about communication interoperability among public safety personnel, the lack of standards continues to hobble the campaign; Project 25, launched twenty-one years ago, was supposed to develop standards that would let police, firefighters, and other first responders communicate across departmental and jurisdictional lines using equipment from various manufacturers
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Handgun defense against a wall
One of the most dangerous tasks law enforcement personnel faces is disarming a suspect armed with a handgun; officers must remember that action is faster than reaction, and should thus take the initiative — and maintain it; the first part of any handgun defense is a redirection of the muzzle; typically, this is accomplished by one of two ways: redirecting the handgun itself, or physically moving out of the line of fire while controlling the muzzle direction; Israeli Combat System (ICS) stipulates a combination of muzzle redirection and a body defense done simultaneously
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Experts call for uniform testing standards for interoperable communications gear
There are no uniform product testing programs for emergency communications equipment; this means that first responders could buy radios they believe are interoperable but fail to deliver during a disaster
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FCC asks for public comments on public safety band for first responders
The U.S. government wanted to use a portion of the 700 MHz band — which became available after the June 2009 transition from analog to digital TV — for public safety communication; the government hoped that large wireless providers would pay $1.3 billion for that portion of the band, but the highest bid came in at $472 million; the FCC is trying again
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Identifying disaster victims: Looking at teeth to determine victims' age at time of death
In disasters which claim many victims as well as in an unsolved homicide case, looking at victims’ teeth to determine how old they were at the time of death would help in identifying them; age determination of unknown human bodies is important in the setting of a crime investigation or a mass disaster, because the age at death, birth date, and year of death, as well as gender, can guide investigators to the correct identity among a large number of possible matches
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How to protect Times Square -- and other highly traveled areas
New Yorkers were lucky that a T-shirt vendor notices the suspicious SUV left by Faisal Shazad in Times Square, but there are ways to improve on luck in trying to secure highly traveled areas; more coordinated CCTV system, blast-mitigation, and more call boxes are a few of the measures
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Search-and-rescue dogs to be fitted with satellite navigation devices
Spanish company develops dog collars fitted with satellite navigation technology; the collar will be used by search-and-rescue dog to help locate trapped victims after an earthquake or similar disasters; the technology combines information on the scenting abilities of the dog with data on its location
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Trains still carry lethal cargo through Dallas-Forth Worth, other American cities
A cloud of chlorine gas could kill up to 17,500 people and injure 100,000 others within several miles; about 1,300 chlorine-filled cars go through Union Pacific Railroad’s Davidson Yard in west Fort Worth in a typical year; the U.S. railroad industry, which is required by federal common-carrier law to ship chemicals such as chlorine, transported some 75,000 tank cars of toxic inhalants nationwide in 2009
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U.S. nabs Times Square bomber at JFK airport
Pakistani-born U.S. citizen was caught while trying to board a plane to Dubai from JFK; the man is not the individual seen on videotape near the bomb-laden SUV; bomb experts say the would-be bomber had left many leads for detectives to follow; one expert: “He was trying to cover his tracks, but he left more clues than a guy walking into a bank to rob it without a mask. This guy left everything here but his wallet”
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Software helps World Cup emergency planning
The organizers of this summer’s World Cup are using a simulation software developed by researchers at the University of Salford which allows emergency personnel and hospital better prepare for different emergencies
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U.S. not ready for clean up effort after a bioterror attack
The small 2001 anthrax attack in the United States cost hundreds of millions of dollars in decontamination costs, and some of the facilities attacked could not be reopened for more than two years; a large-scale biological release in an American city, though, could potentially result in hundreds of thousands of illnesses and deaths and could cost trillions of dollars to clean up
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Northrop Grumman unveils latest version of Wheelbarrow UGV
Northrop Grumman’s Wheelbarrow unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) was first used by British Army bomb disposal teams during “The Troubles” in Ireland in the 1970s; since then it has gone through a number of design upgrades to extend its capabilities and meet changing military and first response needs; the company has just unveiled the latest version of this veteran robot
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How do you quickly evacuate 70,000 sports fans from a stadium attacked by terrorists?
Sports fan do not like to stand in a slow moving, snaking line to get into a stadium for a big game; they do not like inching forward in a long, snaking line to get out of the stadium at the end of the game; imagine what would happen if a bomb were to explode, or a chemical agent released, in stadium packed with 70,000 spectators; DHS Science & Technology Directorate is working in a solution
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