North East King County Regional Public Safety Communication Agency

North East King County Regional Public Safety Communication Agency, also referred to as NORCOM, is a governmental entity that provides emergency communication services for public safety organizations operating in the North East King County region of the United States. Its primary mission is to receive, process, and relay emergency calls and associated information between the public and first‑responder agencies such as fire departments, emergency medical services, and law‑enforcement bodies. By operating a centralized communications hub, NORCOM ensures that radio transmissions, data feeds, and dispatch instructions can be shared quickly and reliably among the various responder organizations. The agency’s infrastructure supports routine day‑to‑day operations as well as coordinated responses to major incidents, natural disasters, or large‑scale public events. NORCOM’s services are tailored to the specific technical and operational requirements of mission‑critical communications, emphasizing redundancy, security, and interoperability. Headquartered in the United States, the agency functions as a regional authority rather than a national or commercial telecommunications provider.

NORCOM’s distinguishing characteristic is its exclusive focus on delivering secure, reliable communication capabilities for public safety users within its defined geographic footprint, which shapes its operational priorities and technology choices. This focus requires the agency to comply with stringent standards governing the protection of sensitive information and the continuity of emergency services. In December 2013, a server maintained by NORCOM that stored medical response records from three participating fire departments was subjected to a security breach, resulting in the exposure of roughly 6,000 records containing names, addresses, birth dates, driver’s license and Social Security numbers, medical conditions, and details of emergency calls for both individuals who placed the calls and 231 current and former firefighters. Upon discovering the breach, NORCOM promptly engaged local and federal law‑enforcement agencies to investigate the incident, notified all affected parties about the compromised data, and took the compromised server offline by decommissioning it. The agency confirmed that the breached server was not linked to its active 911 or live dispatch systems, thereby preserving the integrity of ongoing emergency communications. The response actions demonstrated NORCOM’s commitment to incident management, transparency with stakeholders, and the safeguarding of public‑safety‑related information.