FAMRINGTON – Stephan M. Bunker, former Farmington selectperson, has just returned from presenting at the international conference known as NAVIGATOR, which brought together over 1650 attendees from emergency communications centers for 3 days of professional development. This event is delivered by the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch (IAED), based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a recognized leader in the development of best practices in the processing of emergency calls by dispatch centers, and has users in virtually every corner of the world.
Attendees were also exposed to over 45 exhibitors who displayed the many products and services used by communications centers, such as software, radio technology, dispatch consoles, 24/7 chairs, recording systems, OnStar, scheduling applications, to name but a few. Next year’s conference will be in Orlando, Florida.
This year’s conference was in National Harbor, outside of Washington D.C. at the Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center and offered over 155 educational sessions, delivered by over 150 hand-picked speakers such as Bunker, who share their expertise with attendees. Bunker’s topic was entitled Communication Center Directors as Risk Managers.
In this session he identified the many threats to communication centers which might interrupt their critical operations such as storms, damage to their buildings, radio systems, telephone networks, cyber attacks and ransomware and the pressures on the mental health of their dispatchers. He outlined steps to identify and mitigate those threats in a proactive approach.
Retired from Maine’s 911 system, while there Bunker helped to establish core training standards for all dispatch professionals and the adoption of nationally recognized protocols for the handling of medical and fire/rescue emergencies. Bunker continues to teach and lectures in the profession and is an expert witness for cases involving 911 litigation. He resides on Bailey Hill Road, Farmington, with his wife Cheryl and can be reached at stephan.bunker@gmail.com.
