Meet Our First
Contact
9-1-1 Instructional Services
Team
"It's the
people that
make the dream...into a reality..." - Walt Disney
Jerry
Boyd from
Baker City,Oregon is
Communications Director for Baker
County’s Consolidated
9-1-1 Dispatch Center.
Jerry is also concurrently the Deputy Chief of the Baker County
Fire
Authority and the Deputy Director of the Baker County Office of
Homeland
Security. Jerry recently managed the complete remodeling and
expansion of
their 9-1-1 PSAP.
Jerry has been the
Chief of Fire Company 50, Shasta
County, CA Fire Department (1999-2003), the Chief of Police / Director
of
Emergency Management of Martinez, CA (1991-1996) and the Chief of
Police of
Coronado, CA (1981-1991). Jerry is no stranger to Law
Enforcement, having
been a Police Lieutenant / SWAT Commander with the Irvine, CA
Police Department, and a Deputy Sheriff / Sergeant with the Los Angeles
County
Sheriff’s Department.
Jerry has designed, fabricated and staffed Mobile Incident Command
Units for
over 25 years. He is well versed in Tactical and Special Operations
deployments.
Considered an expert in the field of PSAP Management and Supervision,
Jerry
holds Basic through Management POST Certificates and is a popular
Police and
Fire Academy Instructor. He has written five books, including
three on Emergency Communications subjects and over three dozen
articles in
professional
journals. He is the co-author of "Incident
Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional
Tactical and
Incident Dispatcher".
In his free time, Jerry raises horses on his ranch in
rural Baker County, Oregon.
Captain George Bradford
from Mancos, Colorado
is a
retired fire officer with the San Jose (CA) Fire Department.
Besides working on some of the department’s
busiest engine companies, he was an instructor at several fire service
academies throughout central California. In the 1970’s he was also a
founding
member of California Fire Service Instructors, who brought live fire
extinguisher training to industrial emergency response teams through
the local
community colleges.
In the 1980’s,
George
took an administrative assignment to
assist his Communications Center with the development of an Incident
Dispatcher
(IDT) program, the design and building of a Communication van, as well
as the
certification and integration of the Incident Command System (ICS) into
his
department's organization. The resulting efforts got the department on
the way
to using a standardized scene organization that included direct command
post
support by Public Safety Dispatchers who would respond in the
department’s new
Communication Mobile Command Unit. The success of the program lead to
the
development of a Calltakers Wildland
Fire Orientation and IDT Fire Behavior and Survival segment being added
to the
curriculum used by several multi-agency
Public Safety
Dispatcher academies.
After retirement,
George wrote "Structure
Protection
in the I-Zone" (PennWell Publishing,
2001),
based on increasing situational awareness and implementing lessons
identified
in After Action reports.
George spends much of his free time tending cattle on a high mountain
ranch with his wife, Peggy.

|
George has also developed a new response
manual
for the public - "Self-Reliance
during Natural Disasters and Civil Unrest". Available through Paladin Press,
the book will give you the knowledge to handle nine basic crises that
typically follow a disaster, and motivate you to assist your family and
neighbors should a large-scale catastrophe strike your community.
While 9-1-1 professionals know what to do when disaster struikes, they
frequently have not trained their loved ones in emergency
procedures. Knowing in advance that your family knew what to do
in an emergency will make you a better responder.
A review of the book from Paladin Press,
along with ordering information, can be found here.
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Jon
Davis from Des
Moines, Iowa
is Deputy Director of the Polk County Office of Emergency
Management. Jon
started in
public
safety in 1992 as a volunteer firefighter. In 1994, while still serving
as a
firefighter, he began working in emergency communications. The ensuing
years saw
him serve as a Telecommunicator with the Ankeny Police Department, the
Iowa
State Patrol and the Des Moines Police Department.
He has served
as a
trainer for various communications centers for over 10 years, and has
been an
Adjunct Instructor for the Iowa Law
Enforcement Academy since June of
2004. Since 2003, he has been a Communications Specialist with Nebraska’s
Urban Search
and Rescue Task Force 1. His responses with the US&R Task Force
include responses to New Orleans, Louisiana
for Hurricane Katrina in September of 2005, to Fort Worth, Texas
for Hurricane Dean in August of 2007, as well as Hurricane Ike in the
summer of 2008.
Jon
is a certified Reserve Police Officer, Firefighter I, Fire Instructor
I, has certification
as a
Hazardous Materials Technician, is rated as a Weapons of Mass
Destruction First
Responder, and is considered a Subject Matter Expert in Critical
Incident
Stress Management. Jon is a member of the Association of Public Safety
Communications Officials and is a licensed Amateur Radio Operator.
Dave
Dooley from Aurora, Colorado
has over 35 years of
experience in emergency
communications. Dave has been a Tactical (SWAT) Dispatcher,
Dispatch Supervisor, Communications Center Manager, and
has been a Dispatch Communications Training Officer since 1992.
Dave has held a Fire Supervisor
Certificate since 1984 and has assisted
in the
construction of two separate Communication Centers. He is EMD
certified
through the National Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch and is an
experienced Communications Hardware Technician. In May of 2006,
Dave was
promoted to Shift Supervisor with the Aurora (CO) Public Safety
Communications
Center.

Gil
Emery, Jr. from Portsmouth, New
Hampshire is
the Communications Manager for the Portsmouth
Police Department. He has over
twenty years dispatch and communications
experience, of which the last ten have been supervisory.
Gil has been involved in the building of two Communication Centers for
the City of Portsmouth. He is currently Communications Coordinator for
the Seacoast Emergency Response Team, and is a member of the Portsmouth Police Department's Tactical Dispatcher
Team.
In his free time, Gil likes to spend time with his wife, Karen,
daughter
Kelsey, and attends various events in the
NASCAR stock car racing circuit.

Steve
Frederick from Susquehanna,
Pennsylvania currently serves as Susquehanna County's
9-1-1
Center Training Officer. Steve comes to us with a 27 year background in
Emergency Services, including 27 years an a EMS provider, 11 years as a
firefighter and rescue technician, 10 years in the private security
field, 9 years as an Emergency Services Instructor, including Fire,
EMS, CPR and Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission Water Rescue
Instructor.
Steve has been with the Susquehanna County 9-1-1 Center for 12 years
and has worked his way through the ranks to Training Officer. Steve is
a Tactical Incident Dispatcher and in his early years in EMS worked
many sporting events including New York Jets minor league football
games, Harlem Globetrotter basketball events, as well as numerous other
sporting events and rock concerts.
Steve's hobbies include
cooking fastastic meals at home (and for his partners in the
Center...), woodworking, and volunteering his time with his local fire
department
and the Water Rescue Team as Captain, Fire Safety Officer, Training
Officer
and Fire Prevention Officer.

Cathy
'C.J.' Jones-Gooding from Lakewood, Colorado
is the Deputy Communications Supervisor for Littleton
Fire-Rescue, in
Littleton, Colorado, with more thirteen years experience in the
field. Presently, in addition to supervising the evening and
night dispatchers, she is in charge of Quality Assurance for fire and
medical calls and serves as the center’s Training Coordinator.
She designs and delivers continuing education programs for the Center,
and has spoken at several national and local emergency dispatch
conferences. Cathy has had articles published in industry trade
publications, and compiles a monthly newsletter for the dispatch center.
Cathy’s certifications include Emergency Medical Dispatcher (with
honors) and a Quality Assurance certificate, both through the National Academy of
Emergency Medical Dispatch; NIMS IS-700 and 800 through FEMA; and has
completed the Communications Center Supervisor Course through
APCO. She
is a member of APCO and NENA, and is one of three dispatchers who serve on
the department’s Critical Incident Dispatch Team.
Cathy is also a former firefighter/EMT, and serves as a commissioner on
the City of Lakewood’s Commission on
Cultural Diversity and Human Relations. She holds a Bachelors
Degree in German and Political Science, and is currently pursuing her
MBA.
Randall Larson from
Eureka,
California has
more than 27 years experience in
emergency communications for both police and fire, most of it spent
comfortably on the midnight shift. Randall is a former
Technical
Information Specialist with California Urban Search & Rescue Task
Force 3, and served with the Olympic Public Safety Command at the
2002
Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Randall is a Founding Member of the
National Incident Dispatchers Association, the
California Fire Chiefs Association, Communications Section (Northern Division), and is one
of the state’s leading Incident Dispatch instructors.
Randall has
published numerous articles in the fire service, homeland protection, and public safety
communications publications and has been the Editor of 9-1-1 Magazine
since 1995. A recipient of the 2005 Higgins and Langley Swiftwater Rescue
Media Award from the National Association of Search and Rescue, Randall
is a prolific writer in several fields of interest. He is an online music
columnist and reviewer, and has written six books on a variety of
subjects.
Dave Larton from Morgan
Hill,
California is Coastal
Region ACS Officer for the California Emergency Management Agency
(CalEMA). Based at CalEMA's
Regional Emergency Operations Center in Oakland, Dave currently manages
the
staff of a sixteen County area ranging from the Oregon border to the
Monterey
County line.
Dave has more than thirty-five years of emergency services
experience, including
thirteen as a Dispatcher/Trainer for the Gilroy, (CA) 9-1-1
Communications
Center. He was named the 1999 recipient of the Ramona Raymond
Pillar of
Excellence Training Award by the Santa Clara County Public Safety
Communications Managers Association, and was twice named the
Department's
Dispatcher of the Year.
A nine-year
veteran of the Department’s Hostage Negotiation Team,
Dave has served
as a Tactical Dispatcher, a certified Basic and Advanced Hostage
Negotiator and
Technical Specialist. He is a California POST certified Peer Crisis
Counselor,
and is a member of the International Critical Incident Stress
Foundation (ICISF). He is a certified S-258
Communications
Incident Technician (COM-T) as well as an Incident Communications
Center
Manager (INCM). He is also a certified Basic Law Enforcement
Instructor with
the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
(TCLEOSE).
As a
Communications Specialist with California’s Urban Search & Rescue
Task
Force 3, Dave responded to the World Trade Center in September of
2001. Dave also served with the Olympic Public Safety Command at
the 2002
Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is rated as
a
Weapons of Mass Destruction First Responder, and is a graduate of the
Federal
Department of Homeland Security’s COBRA WMD School in Anniston,
Alabama.
Dave is a
Founding Member of the National Incident Dispatchers
Association, a
member of the California Association of Hostage Negotiators, NENA,
APCO, a
former Vice President of the California Fire Chiefs Association
(Communications
Section, Northern Division), the California Tactical Dispatchers
Association,
the California Association of Police Training Officers, and the
National
Association of Field Training Officers. Dave is a Commercial
Regional
Vice
President for NENA's California State Chapter, CALNENA. He is the
Associate
Editor of 9-1-1 Magazine, and has been a contributing
author for Homeland Protection Professional magazine.
He is the
co-author of "Incident
Dispatcher: A Guide for the Professional Tactical and Incident
Dispatcher".
Dave has
been a technical consultant to the media, including script preparation
for the
‘Ally McBeal’ television show and the History Channel. A popular
national 9-1-1
Instructor and
Trainer, Dave serves First Contact 9-1-1 as its Operations Section
Chief.
Perrin
Larton from Morgan Hill, California has been a Manager of Medical Research for the last sixteen years with a nationally known
medical biotech company. Perrin is a member of the American Association of
Tissue Banks and is a Certified Tissue Bank Specialist, and her current
medical research
includes the development of future medical treatments for Parkinson's disease,
diabetes and spinal cord
injuries.
Perrin
brings to First Contact 9-1-1 a specialty in Human Resource Management, including the writing of Policy and
Procedure Manuals, HIPAA standards management in Emergency Services, and
the development of Homeland
Security - related grant
proposals. She is a frequent speaker at 9-1-1 Conferences, where
she teaches 9-1-1 Ethics and Liability, Leadership and Management and
Disaster Preparedness classes.
An
experienced Emergency
Medical Technician –
Defibrillation medic, Perrin has more than 15 years of experience in Emergency Medical Services aboard an
ambulance in San Benito and
Santa Clara County,
California. As well as being a former 9-1-1 dispatcher, Perrin is a popular EMT / Paramedic Adjunct Instructor in the San Francisco Bay
Area.
With
what little free time she
has, Perrin likes to cook fantastic
meals for her family, tends to her backyard collection of fragrant tree roses and
rides herd
on her ten grandchildren. She is currently writing a book on her family's genealogy. Perrin's vision originally established First Contact
9-1-1, and she currently leads the company's Instructional Services Team,
as well as serving as its
Finance/Administration Section Chief.
Paul Logan from
Madison,Wisconsin has more
than 22 years of dispatch
experience including nearly 15 years
with the Dane County Public Safety Communications Center in Madison,
where he
currently serves as Support Services Manager. Paul has earned
the professional designation of Registered Public-Safety Leader
(RPL) from APCO, and is President of the Wisconsin chapter of APCO.
Paul
served as a Communications Specialist, assigned to Aviation Security
Operations at Hill Air Force Base as a member of the Olympic Public
Safety Command, for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City,
Utah.
A
former EMT, Paramedic & Firefighter, from 1989-1991 Paul was
an
Emergency Medical Services Specialist (EMT-D) with New York City, NY
EMS. He is currently certified as an EFD, EMD & EMD-Q by the
National Academies of Emergency Dispatch, and has extensive
experience
in EMD Quality Assurance / Quality Improvement (QA/QI). He is a
certified Public Information Officer through FEMA.
An NAED
Certified Instructor of the 40-hour Emergency Telecommunicator Course,
Paul is also a popular instructor of Telecommunicator Stress
Management. He is a frequent contributing author for 9-1-1
Magazine as
well as a popular presenter at local, state and national
conferences. Paul supports First Contact 9-1-1 as its Logistics
Section
Chief and Public Information Officer.
Paul
and his wife, Beverly, spend their free time trying to stay one step
ahead of their son, Kelly.

Helen Straughn from Ormond Beach, Florida started her career in public safety at
the Florida State University Police Department, where she worked for
two years. She transferred to the Tallahassee Police Department.
At TPD, she held positions including Telecommunicator, Communications
Training Officer, Shift Supervisor, and Communications Training
Coordinator. Helen assisted in developing the inaugural
Communications Training Program at TPD and taught numerous classes to
field and communications personnel.
Helen then joined the APCO
Institute Online, where she was responsible for all its aspects,
including scheduling instructors and classes, instructing courses as
needed, and reviewing and updating course materials and presentation
platforms. The AIO averaged 20% yearly growth under her
direction.
Helen also worked for JHT, Inc., in Orlando,
Florida. She reviewed web-based military training material for
consistency and accuracy of grammar, format, graphic design, and
navigational interface while using a courseware development tool
specifically developed for that purpose.
Helen also serves as Training
Manager for CAUSE, Inc., a business owned by her and her husband,
Bob. CAUSE, Inc. specializes in adaptive technology for the
blind. She and Bob are licensed amateur radio operators and are
active volunteers in their church. Helen serves First Contact 9-1-1 as
our Instructional Design Coordinator and IT Specialist.

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