To the Editor:
The D.C. Notes column by Jeff Silva, Oct. 19 issue, is of considerable concern to me as executive director of the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network, and to the network’s board of managers.
The article impugns the reputation of John Melcher, the network MIS director, as well as the network itself. Specifically, the following assertion in the article is false:
“CTIA and the ComCare Alliance made Melcher its 911 poster child.”
So is the following statement: “The Ad Hoc Alliance suspects a quid pro quo: Melcher backed the E911 measure in exchange for industry goodwill toward his patented 911 solution.”
On the poster-child assertion: John Melcher has never testified or appeared in any forum on behalf of ComCare. He has, however, testified and appeared in various forums on behalf of the National Emergency Number Association and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. Mr. Melcher serves as wireless liaison for both associations because of his considerable expertise in wireless technology. If there are any poster children for ComCare, they would probably be the emergency nurses and the Brain Injury Association.
The second-cited quote from the article, however, is most disturbing, because of the potential damage to the reputation of a true professional in the public safety industry. Point by point:
John Melcher holds no patents in his name; however, the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network holds two patents on technology relating to providing 911 service to the 3 million citizens it serves.
One of the patents held by the network relates to the transmission of ANI/ALI data to the numerous volunteer fire and EMS agencies within the network’s service area.
The other patent relates to the “marrying” of telephones and computers. This patented technology provides our jurisdictions with the greatest flexibility and preparedness in a rapidly changing technology to allow us to respond to challenges we knew would be coming, and those we are totally unaware of-tying to a computer was our best response to an unknown future. This technology delivers to our telecommunicators and dispatchers: call history; premise history of calling party’s location; database capture and storage with retrieval and reporting; display of location data on an electronic map, whether in block number and street name form or in spatial form; paging of call data to field agents; instant messaging to workstations for warnings, broadcasting of automatic crash notification messages; e-mail; fax; interfaces to computer-aided dispatch systems; and interfaces to state and national networks for criminal information.
This patented technology is not tied to any specific wireless 911 solution. To state that the network staff and board members are disappointed in Mr. Silva’s obvious lack of research in this article, understates the situation. The network has built a reputation, over the years, as a leader in the field of 911 technology, and enjoys the respect of colleagues throughout the nation. Mr. Melcher has dedicated himself to public safety for many years.
Laverne Hogan
executive director
Greater Harris County
911 Emergency Network
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