Orlando Fire Department dispatcher Pamala Monroe typed in the address of a mock 9-1-1 call and let the system do the work. The new computer-aided dispatch automatically notified the police and fire departments of the call: a car crash at City Hall.
Simultaneously dispatching the two agencies with one key stroke was not possible with the old systems OFD and the Orlando Police Department relied on to respond to emergencies in Orlando. The city traded in the old tech this year, which the agencies say will help improve response times and first responder safety by allowing better communication.
“We were operating in a very good system that worked well during its time, but it was reaching its end of life cycle,” OPD Chief Orlando Rol\u00f3n said. “So, really, it put us in a position where we needed to act quickly.”
The city launched its new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system Aug. 20, after years of negotiating and testing different products.
With the old technology, dispatchers for police and fire worked on two separate systems. They had to call each other if both agencies need respond to the same incident and copy and paste any updates on the call across departments. They were duplicating information on about 100 calls per day.
Dozens of employees, including dispatchers and IT technicians, spent nearly two years fiddling with the system once the city decided on its new software, manufactured by Texas-based Tyler Technologies. Launching it for the first time felt like participating in “a major surgery, where you need everyone and their mother there,” Rol\u00f3n said.
Rosa Akhtarkhavari, Orlando’s Chief Information Officer, said the project was the biggest the city has ever taken on, "because this is the lifeline of both public safety agencies.”
The system, which cost the city roughly $1.5 million to license and implement, needed to stand up to Orlando’s high daily call volume and allow the police and fire departments to work in collaboration in an emergency situation.
Akhtarkhavari said they tested the system to be sure it could function properly in a large-scale emergency like the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub. The response was hampered by communication issues, including the lack of a unified command post. Orlando police and fire commanders set up at separate spots, and sometimes were using radio channels not connected across the agencies.
Rol\u00f3n said those issues were not a factor in the city deciding to purchase a new CAD, as officials were already planning the project when the shooting happened.
The technology also needed to be flexible enough to adapt to new ways people report information to 911, Akhtarkhavari said. Though texting 911 is a service relatively new to Orlando police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, first responders think will people will soon turn to sending photos and video as a form of notifying them of an emergency.
The new system can accommodate that, when the time comes.
“Imagine the value of a simple still image or video of a scenario that we’re about to come across... to have the right equipment, the right personnel, the right protective equipment available and on as we approach the scene," Orlando interim Fire Chief Richard Wales said. "It’s invaluable.”
For now, there are other functions of the new CAD system that can help police and firefighters better prepare for a call as they approach the scene.
Alerts now automatically pop up on a dispatcher’s screen to show if a resident inside a home has a prior criminal or medical history that responders should be aware of. Designs for buildings are also integrated into the system, so firefighters can easily see what a building is made of and what kind of sprinkler system it has.
And instead of a screen with mostly text, the new CAD includes a map, which shows all active calls and the closest police and emergency vehicles to them.
“When we can gather information from the caller quicker, get it out to the public safety units faster and the units get mapped and sent to the call and [arrive] quicker, those are the three key pieces of successful public safety,” Wales said.
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