One CAD System, Multi-Jurisdictional Benefits
June 02, 2023 by Lexi Belvis
Doing more with less is always the goal for public safety agencies, and Tolland County Mutual Aid in Connecticut is no exception.
Over the course of three years, the agency experienced a 27% increase in call volume. During a time when first responder burnout is on the rise and hiring additional staff is exceptionally challenging, the agency found creative solutions to manage their increased call volume using technology instead of adding staff.
In 2019, Tolland County began providing shared fire and EMS computer aided dispatch (CAD) services to two additional local public safety answering points (PSAPs) using Tyler Technologies’ Enterprise CAD solution. With all three PSAPs on the same computer aided dispatch system, multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional responses were greatly simplified, shaving time off emergency responses and telecommunicators’ duties.
“The CAD instance is hosted in Tolland County, yet, 70 miles away in Newtown, we're reaping the benefits,” said Maureen Will, executive director of Newtown Emergency Communications Center. “All the bells and whistles that are available to Tolland are available to us and two other towns. If anything happens, we're all on the same system and available for support. That's unheard of here in Connecticut.”
Although mutual aid technology can bring about efficiencies, it can also come with a learning curve. Throughout the implementation, Tyler staff worked with the agencies to streamline the systems as much as possible.
“We used to have what seemed like a thousand different call types. Once we decided to consolidate, data sharing got so much easier, providing mutual aid became simpler — it even fostered some mutual respect between fire companies once we were all on the same page. Tyler really listened to our staff, and it showed.”
Using new software also comes with its own challenges, but Will said Enterprise CAD made it as easy as possible.
“Enterprise CAD is dispatcher-friendly — not clunky like some other CAD systems,” Will said. “Plus, we're able to have a training CAD, so staff can learn the system more easily without making any real changes. When 98% of the fire and EMS staff are volunteers, that's huge.”
By consolidating software and hardware, the agencies also accrued savings in their annual costs.
“Not only are Tyler solutions better for our dispatchers, our responders, and, ultimately, our community, but we're actually saving money by sharing the services and hardware,” Will said. “The cost of refreshing hardware and servers every five years is astronomical, but it’s more manageable when split between our jurisdictions.”
The agencies chose to reinvest those savings into new technology, including Tyler’s Fire Field Mobile solution. The application gave command staff and front-line workers access to real-time data and location information from smartphones or tablets. With this new technology, the agencies have better access to shared data instantly — saving time, reducing reliance on radio communications, and improving accuracy.
It's a win-win for our staff and our agency; because their jobs are more streamlined, they’re more efficient. Because we didn’t have to hire additional staff, we can continue providing competitive wages. Ultimately, I believe this technology has contributed to staff retention.
Doug Racicot
Operations Director, Tolland County Mutual Aid
“With the implementation of Fire Field Mobile and the automation of certain features interfaced with Enterprise CAD, we were able to improve the accuracy of CAD entries that are traditionally entered manually by our telecommunicators,” Doug Racicot, operations director for Tolland County Mutual Aid, said.
Racicot also credits the upgrades with improved situational awareness for responders and command staff due to the GPS tracking capabilities, as well as improved adherence to required reporting standards, like NIFRS and NEMSIS, thanks to CAD’s standard export format accepted by all the records management systems the various agencies use.
For Tolland County, one of the most significant impacts of these tools and technological improvements has been the impact on staff. “This technology massively improved our staff's workflows,” Racicot said. “It's a win-win for our staff and our agency; because their jobs are more streamlined, they’re more efficient. Because we didn’t have to hire additional staff, we can continue providing competitive wages. Ultimately, I believe this technology has contributed to staff retention.”
Interested in how this technology can improve your agency’s emergency response? Learn more about Enterprise CAD, Fire Field Mobile, and the full suite of Enterprise Public Safety solutions