High stakes

Jan. 23, 2007

By Russell Stigall

Frontiersman

PALMER - Palmer Police dispatchers soon can dispatch with their sluggish old note cards in favor of a new computerized system.

The Dispatch Center in Palmer unveiled its new software system Monday during a tour of the system's capabilities.

Designed by InterAct Public Safety Systems, Inc. the software was selected based on its &#8220modular design, its wide variety of capabilities, its relative ease of use for dispatchers, and its low cost,” according to a Mat-Su Borough press release.

It was funded through a $494,379 federal Department of Justice COPS Technology Grant.

&#8220The software will help the dispatcher gather information and dispatch much more efficiently than in the past,” said Dennis Brodigan, Mat-Su Borough director of emergency services.

The new system automates the dispatching process, Brodigan said, and takes the information dispatchers acquire during an emergency call and stores it in a database. The data is kept forever for statistical analysis.

Also, after dispatchers enter a caller's information, they get an icon showing the caller's exact location.

Before introducing the new software, dispatchers wrote information on a piece of cardboard stock with a pen. Much time was wasted retrieving information stored in this way when the department did its statistical analysis.

&#8220The beauty about it is that it handles larger amounts of information faster than the current system,” Brodigan said.

It provides larger amounts of information to the dispatcher, and allows the dispatcher to easily retrieve the information later.

&#8220We'll be able to print out very comprehensive reports, what we call ‘time of day, day of week' reports,” Brodigan said. The reports will give statistics such as peak time for ambulance service.

Knowing peak use times for ambulance, fire and police services will allow the department to create a management plan. They can supplement the normal emergency vehicle staff for peak times.

&#8220We're matching the demand with the supply more accurately,” Brodigan said. Thus &#8220improving response time and lowering costs to taxpayers.”

This is just the first of several phases of upgrade to the borough's InterAct system.

Someday, mobile terminals mounted in police, fire and ambulance vehicles will allow dispatchers to track units in the field. Computer screens in the in the units also will display, on a digital map, the exact location of a call.

Another tool provided by the InterAct system is a module called ProQA priority medical dispatch. ProQA is a dropdown menu of medical information dispatchers can retrieve with the click of a mouse, such as the procedures for CPR.

More is in store for upgrades to Palmer's dispatch center.

Brodigan said the department plans to jump right into a wireless system. Dispatchers soon will be able to use the InterAct system for 911 calls from cellular telephones. The technology will show the caller's location to within a few meters. Currently, 911 calls from remote locations can inform dispatchers of a situation.

&#8220But it won't do you much good if you don't know where you are,” Brodigan said.

There are two solutions to pinpoint cellular phone locations, Brodigan said: either triangulation from multiple cell phone towers or through a Global Positioning Satellite. The Mat-Su area has too few cell towers, so the borough is going with GPS.

The cellular project getting started now and is expected to be complete in the next few months, Brodigan said. It is funded through the E-911 fund.

&#8220Money in the E-911 fund comes from a surcharge everyone pays on their cellular phone,” he said.

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@

frontiersman.com.