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50 Government Innovations for 2009

Former Washington, D.C., CTO and now federal CIO Vivek Kundra (pictured) drove the Data Feeds: Democratization of Government Data project for D.C., one of 50 top innovations for 2009.

The John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard today announced its annual pick of government innovations. The top 50 were selected from some 600 applicants from federal, state, city, county and tribal government agencies. Six winners will be announced in September.

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first published week of:   04/06/2009

911 Security Alert Standard Coming?

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) will soon announce the fate of a proposed national security standard for automatically routing alarm company alerts to 911 centers. Alarm companies typically place a phone call to 911 centers when an alarm sounds, but the new standard would send them automatically. 

An automated standard could eliminate 32 million calls nationally from the alarm companies to the 911 public safety answering points, erasing the two to three minutes of processing time call takers need for obtaining information from alarm company operators, according to Bill Hobgood, public safety team project manager of the Richmond, Va., Department of Information Technology.

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first published week of:   01/12/2009

911 Standard Could Speed Emergency Response

Bureaucracy faced a blow recently that could save lives. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) announced the approval of a national standard enabling alarm companies to automatically transmit alerts to 911 centers. Alarm vendors typically place a phone call to 911 centers when an alert sounds.

An automated standard could eliminate 32 million of these calls nationally, erasing minutes of processing time 911 call-takers need for obtaining information from alarm company operators, explained Bill Hobgood, public safety team project manager of the Richmond, Va., Department of IT. He led pilot testing of the standard in Richmond, which eliminated 5,000 calls during its two-year time span.

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first published week of:   03/16/2009

Auburn, NY authorizes study of needed geographic information system upgrades

Auburn, NY will move forward on a project to upgrade its geographic information system capabilities. The Auburn City Council unanimously approved a resolution …

The city will pay Rome, N.Y. firm PAR Government Systems Corporation approximately $10,000 to carry out the study and implement its findings. Those funds will come from a Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund grant through the state Department of Education.

City Manager Mark Palesh told the councilors the upgrades will hopefully allow the city to update maps of its water, sewer and other infrastructure. This is a project that should have happened a while ago, Palesh said.

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first published week of:   04/06/2009

Brazilian sat-hat crackdown

On March 18, Brazilian Federal Police swooped in on 39 suspects in six states in the largest crackdown to date on a growing problem in Brazil: illegal hijacking of U.S. military satellite transponders. “This had been happening for more than five years,” says a spokesman for the Brazilian Federal Police. “Since the communication channel was open, not encrypted, lots of people used it to talk to each other.” The practice is so entrenched, and the knowledge and tools so widely available, few believe the campaign to stamp it out will be quick or easy. Much of this country’s geography is remote, and beyond the reach of cellphone coverage, making American satellites an ideal, if illegal, communications option. The problem goes back more than a decade, to the mid-1990s, when Brazilian radio technicians discovered they could jump on the UHF frequencies dedicated to satellites in the Navy’s Fleet Satellite Communication system, or FLTSATCOM. They have been at it ever since. Truck drivers say they provide better range and sound than ham radios. Rogue loggers in the Amazon use the satellites to transmit coded warnings when authorities threaten to close in. Drug dealers and organized criminal factions use them to coordinate operations. The crackdown, called ““Operation Satellite,” was Brazil’s first large-scale enforcement against the problem. Police followed coordinates provided by the U.S. Department of Defense and confirmed by Anatel, Brazil’s FCC. Among those charged were university professors, electricians, truckers and farmers, the police say. The suspects face up to four years and jail, but are more likely to be fined if convicted.

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first published week of:   04/27/2009

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Volume 31

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