Chief Lowery earns national certification

Rutherford County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Keith Lowery earned his Emergency Number Professional Certification from the National Emergency Number Association.

ENP Certification establishes the benchmarks of performance to signify broad-based competence in the field.

Earning the certification:

• Demonstrates mastery of the comprehensive knowledge base required for emergency number program management.
• Helps raise industry standards and increase respect for 9-1-1.
• Confirms commitment to the 9-1-1 profession by being a leader in public safety and pledging to stay aware of current issues and developments in the field.

Chief Lowery’s attainment of the ENP Certification now brings to the Rutherford County government a third NENA certified 911 communications professional to help the Sheriff’s Office with its endeavor to better serve residents and to further the partnership with the Rutherford County Emergency Communications District in planning for enhancement of emergency response operations and the future implementation of Next Generation 911 capabilities and communications interoperability.

Lowery, who as second in command at the agency, oversees all RCSO operations for Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh. He also supervises the Sheriff’s Office’s E9-1-1 Communications Division. He previously supervised as emergency communications centers at Smyrna Police Department and La Vergne Police Department.

“The catalyst for exploring the NENA Emergency Number Professional certification was having the opportunity to interact with a great number of communications professionals and industry partners at both state or national training and education conferences, combined with my direct technical interaction or management oversight of three different emergency communications centers during my career,” Lowery said.

The knowledge required for the test was very comprehensive and included various topics including E9-1-1 telecommunications operations, radio communications systems, personnel management, information systems, organizational management and relevant legislation.

“The inspiration to pursue achieving the certification came from my wife, Cassie, who has been an ENP for nearly 20 years, and currently serves as the Southeast Region Director for NENA,” Lowery said.

Cassie Lowery serves as the Rutherford County Emergency Communications District E911 Director.

She and Assistant Director Bernard “Buster” Brown, who formerly served as the NENA president, also holds an ENP Certification. They manage the district operations to ensure agencies achieve training requirements, to establish proper emergency call handling procedures and to provide a variety of 911 communication technology for effective response to calls for service.

Lowery attended many training events and conferences to stay aware of standards and best practices, developing technologies and critical issues facing the first responders in the emergency communications services.

His goals are to bring processes and tools to create better operational functionality to the centers, to make the performance of duties by the communication personnel easier and to be more effective while promoting professionalism and innovation by those in the industry.