Press Release from Calhoun County 911... CALHOUN COUNTY 9-1-1 TO PROVIDE CRITICAL EMERGENCY INFORMATION TO FIRST RESPONDERS IN REAL-TIME August 22 in Calhoun County 911 Jacksonville, AL (August 25, 2014) – In a unanimous decision at last Friday morning’s board meeting, the Calhoun County 9-1-1 Board of Commissioners voted to approve an agreement with Spillman Technologies to purchase their Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), Mapping and Mobile software solution at a cost of $446,000. The new system will revolutionize the handling of emergency data and information in Calhoun County. Once in place, the new software will drastically decrease emergency response times by delivering faster notifications directly to emergency responders, while increasing accuracy and enhancing the reliability of handling public safety information. In addition, the implementation of the Spillman Software will offer every first responder in Calhoun County the ability to share mission-critical information in real-time using the same system. The decision to acquire Spillman’s Integrated Public Safety Software has been several years in the making. In 2010, Calhoun County 9-1-1 began exploring the opportunity for a “countywide” CAD system that would assist public safety agencies in sharing emergency information. On August 15, 2013, the Calhoun County 9-1-1 Board appointed a 12-member Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to further investigate the feasibility of a common data sharing platform. The TAC consists of police, fire and emergency medical professionals from various public safety agencies throughout Calhoun County. The TAC spent over a year examining the possibilities during meetings and discussions, which ultimately led to participation in vendor presentations and software demonstrations delivered by five different software vendors. On Friday, August 15, 2014, the TAC convened at the Calhoun County 9-1-1 Center in Jacksonville with more than 80 percent of the members voting to recommend Spillman as the county’s first choice for an integrated CAD and records management system (RMS). The board meeting was well-attended by police, fire and EMS officials from across the county. Following the meeting, Calhoun County 9-1-1 Board Member and Oxford Police Chief Bill Partridge said “It’s great to see that Calhoun County is moving into the 21st century with our emergency dispatch capabilities. With the help of Spillman, we’ll soon be providing the citizens of Calhoun County with the most efficient and reliable 9-1-1 services as possible.” Although many factors were considered in determining the best public safety software solution for Calhoun County, Spillman’s unmatched capabilities and strong track record for sharing information among multiple agencies was among the most important. Calhoun County 9-1-1 Director Kevin Jenkins, a member of the TAC, said “we saw several good software solutions, but Spillman just stood out in the areas that were important to us.” Jenkins went on to say “Calhoun County needed a software partner that will unite our agencies on a common platform for information sharing and Spillman has proven success with multi-jurisdictional deployments, having done it hundreds of times over the past 30 years and never failing a new software implementation.” According to Spillman Technologies, 80 percent of their current customers are continuously sharing public safety data and information across jurisdictional boundaries, with as many as 51 different agencies using the same, integrated software system. With a long-standing reputation for providing unified public safety software solutions for emergency call centers like the Calhoun County 9-1-1 Center, Spillman Technologies is a world leader in emergency information processing and data sharing. Captain Jeff Hartley of the Tuscaloosa Police Department, a Spillman customer for more than 20 years, commented “the Spillman software saves the dispatchers time [by] being able to check the history of the address, names that are involved in that address, anything that has gone on that is related at all to a 9-1-1 call. This saves them time from having to go back and check several different tables or databases. They can have it all at their fingertips.” Another long-time Spillman customer, Chief Stacey Cotton of the Covington, Georgia Police Department, a user of the system for over 22 years, commented that “Its just a great, robust, system that has served us for many years now. If I was going to take over at another agency, the first thing I would do would be to purchase Spillman.” The nature of managing law enforcement, fire and 9-1-1 data and communications demands a “high-availability” system with greater than 99 percent dependability. Aside from enabling emergency dispatchers to more quickly process and disseminate emergency information, Spillman is well-known for providing exceptionally stable, “tried-and-true” performance in the information technology environment. Covington-Newton County, Georgia 9-1-1 Director Mike Smith said “the platform is extremely stable, and the software is user-friendly,” referring to Spillman’s reliability and the software’s ease of use. Spillman Technologies has been exclusively providing public safety software solutions for more than 30 years. Their software solutions are currently in use by more than 1,200 agencies and over 70,000 public safety professionals in 39 states. Of their 1,200 customers, Spillman reports that nearly 50 percent have been using the software for more than 10 years. In Alabama, over 20 public safety agencies across the state use Spillman, including Albertville Police Department, Cullman County Sheriff’s Office, Gulf Shores Police Department, Orange Beach Police Department, Pelham Police and Fire Departments, Tuscaloosa Police and Fire Departments and The University of Alabama Police Department. Calhoun County 9-1-1’s new system is expected to take more than a year to implement, and is expected to go online in late 2015.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 23:03:34 +0000
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