New Jersey 9-1-1 Consolidation Study: Site Visit Results and Implications for Consolidation

In 1999, the Center for Government Services at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey completed a study of New Jersey's E9-1-1 system. The study offered a snapshot of the extensive and decentralized network of communications centers that receive incoming calls requesting emergency assistance and that dispatch police, fire, and medical units. In 2005, the New Jersey Office of Management and Budget commissioned the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to build on the findings of the 1999 study by exploring ways to improve the efficiency of New Jersey's E9-1-1 system while maximizing the use of available funding.This report is the result of site visits and interviews with officials from 12 PSAPs. The focus of this report is on the current landscape of local operations, funding, staffing, equipment, and technology. In addition, this report identifies issues associated with consolidation, including barriers and opportunities, and presents recommendations for promoting consolidation in New Jersey. It is the third of four deliverables to be produced by the Heldrich Center for the State of New Jersey's 9-1-1 Consolidation Study.Presently, there are over 200 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and more than 100 enhanced Public Safety Dispatch Points (PSDPs) operating in New Jersey. The central goal of this study is to determine whether a consolidation of PSAPs and PSDPs could reduce costs while maintaining and/or improving the level of service. In this report, consolidation is defined as the reduction in the number of locally managed PSAPs and PSDPs that provide emergency communications services

The role of the councillor

Local councillors play an integral role in the democratic process. Other than nationally elected members of parliament, councils remain in many states the only collective body subject to universal, democratic elections, and exist as a voter's most immediate link to governing power. Functions carried out by councillors, and the role they play within communities and local government, are thus essential to strong, localised democracy, despite claims that councillors are 'amateurish' or local politics incidental to an ever-globalising world. Indeed, such criticisms habitually ignore the intertwined elements of local, national and international decision-making, and in turn the crucial role councillors’ play in ensuring citizens and local interests remain represented therein. Without councillors, democracy overall would find itself drastically weakened, and the gulf between citizen and power widened. Local councillors thus provide a first port of call for citizens to have a say in the running of their towns, cities and communities where their voice would be lessened if national legislatures were the only forum of representation

Saving Lives, Increasing Value: Consolidating New Jersey's 9-1-1 Emergency Services

In 1999, the Center for Government Services at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey completed a study of New Jersey's E9-1-1 system.1 The study offered a snapshot of the extensive and decentralized network of communications centers that receive incoming calls requesting emergency assistance and that dispatch police, fire, and medical units. It recommended "a concerted effort" be put in place by all levels of government to achieve further regional cooperation, especially regionalization of dispatch services, arguing that such cooperation would likely result in improved service and lower costs.In 2005, the New Jersey Office of Emergency Telecommunications Services and the New Jersey Office of Management and Budget (OMB) commissioned the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University to update the 1999 report and to describe the current history, delivery system, and organization of the state's emergency 9-1-1 system. Researchers were also asked to determine, through the analysis of program data, whether consolidating 9-1-1 services could reduce costs to the state and/or local governments without sacrificing responsiveness, as well as to identify model frameworks at the county or multiple local jurisdiction level that could facilitate additional consolidation.This report is the fourth and final deliverable to be produced by the Heldrich Center for the consolidation study. The other reports detailed the organization of New Jersey's E9-1-1 system, summarized findings from other states, and outlined key issues and options for system consolidation.2For the purposes of this study, consolidation is defined as two or more 9-1-1 communications centers entering into an agreement to provide dispatching and call-taking services from a single location. This process typically reduces the number of agencies providing emergency communication services. Also, the terms "consolidation," "shared services," and "regionalization" are used interchangeably in this report.The findings in this report are based on:Site visits to, and interviews with 20 local communications centers in New Jersey and interviews with local officials in nearly every New Jersey county (see Appendix A for a list of interview subjects);Interviews with 9-1-1 directors in six states and two regions outside New Jersey;A statewide survey of communications centers that handle incoming calls and that dispatch emergency services; andA review and analysis of data on the cost of handling 9-1-1 calls

Antigen-driven T-cell turnover.

A mathematical model is developed to characterize the distribution of cell turnover rates within a population of T lymphocytes. Previous models of T-cell dynamics have assumed a constant uniform turnover rate; here we consider turnover in a cell pool subject to clonal proliferation in response to diverse and repeated antigenic stimulation. A basic framework is defined for T-cell proliferation in response to antigen, which explicitly describes the cell cycle during antigenic stimulation and subsequent cell division. The distribution of T-cell turnover rates is then calculated based on the history of random exposures to antigens. This distribution is found to be bimodal, with peaks in cell frequencies in the slow turnover (quiescent) and rapid turnover (activated) states. This distribution can be used to calculate the overall turnover for the cell pool, as well as individual contributions to turnover from quiescent and activated cells. The impact of heterogeneous turnover on the dynamics of CD4(+) T-cell infection by HIV is explored. We show that our model can resolve the paradox of high levels of viral replication occurring while only a small fraction of cells are infected

Preliminary investigation into the use of Micro-CT scanning on impact damage to fabric, tissue and bone caused by both round and flat nosed bullets

Firearm offences in the UK, though not as high as in the USA, are increasing year upon year within both countries (Office for National Statistics, 2018 & Mervosh, 2018). This preliminary study looked into using Micro-CT scanning as a method to visualise impact damage and spray patterns caused by 12 test firings of both round and flat nosed bullets to porcine bone (shoulder and leg) suspended in ballistic gelatine and left with no covering, covered with a skin substitute, or covered with fabric (cotton or denim). Micro-CT scanning alongside VG Studio Max showed that overall, in the case of the shoulder bones the round nosed produced longer spray patterns (35.37 mm) within the gelatine blocks compared to the flat nosed bullet (27.33 mm); while with the leg bones the spray patterns were shorter, round nosed bullet (15.64 mm) and the flat nosed bullet (20.78 mm). These initial results showed that both bullet types produced considerable damage, from splitting to full penetration, which in turn illustrates how Micro-CT scanning has benefits within forensic ballistics, which should be further investigated