In rural areas, staffing challenges, longer response times, and resource constraints add an extra layer of complexity to emergency responses. In these circumstances, any way to streamline dispatching is extra impactful.
For agencies in Pennsylvania’s Northern Tier, a multi-county region bordering New York, one major milestone was connecting computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems across the region. The challenge: finding technology that would allow seven dispatch centers across nine counties to share resources.
For new users, like the Erie County Department of Public Safety, the transition was seamless. With the help of Tyler's implementation staff, the county utilized a custom workflow similar to its previous CAD system, reducing the learning curve to a minimum.
Now, all nine counties are working together as a true consortium.
"Our redundant CAD-to-CAD system allows every dispatch center to handle calls for other centers with a simple click of a flyout window, ensuring call coverage throughout the entire region," Director of Elk County Emergency Services Mike McAllister said.
The multi-agency collaboration really shines when incidents cross jurisdictions. During a three-county carjacking incident, the data sharing in CAD made all the difference.
"In the county north of us, an offender stole a vehicle, drove it to Elk County, abandoned it, carjacked a separate vehicle, then did the same in Clearfield County," McAllister shared. "We were watching Clearfield's notes in the ticker and realized they might be looking for the wrong make and model. Sure enough, they caught the offender about 10 minutes later, driving the car we described. If we hadn't had a regional CAD system sharing data across those three counties, that wouldn't have been possible."
Multi-agency integration can be difficult water to tread, but we've not only accomplished it, we've excelled at it thanks to the capabilities of Tyler solutions and the support of Tyler staff.
Mike McAllister
Director, Elk County Emergency Services
The multi-agency collaboration isn't the only benefit Northern Tier agencies have experienced. Using an integrated suite of solutions has also made a difference in their communication and first responder safety.
"Tyler solutions have really improved communication between our agencies," McAllister shared. "Law enforcement, fire, and EMS crews can communicate directly with one another via the mobile solutions’ chat feature, reducing the risk of missed or incorrect information."
Features like address-specific alerts have also helped address modern challenges and protect first responders.
“During the pandemic, we were able to tag COVID-positive locations to ensure responders were aware and took appropriate precautions,” McAllister said. “If an officer adds an alert for a specific address because an individual at that address is aggressive toward first responders, that information is available to fire and EMS crews, so they are aware of potential challenges before arriving at the scene. These features are keeping our first responders safer."
The agencies are even making progress toward Next Generation 911 (NG911) compliance thanks to their improved CAD data.
"Multi-agency integration can be difficult water to tread, but we've not only accomplished it, we've excelled at it thanks to the capabilities of Tyler solutions and the support of Tyler staff," McAllister said.
Interested in how this technology can improve your agency’s emergency response? Learn more about Enterprise CAD, mobile solutions, and the full suite of Enterprise Public Safety solutions.