A new, higher-tech dispatch system recently put in place by the Tempe Police Department aims to increase speed and efficiency when responding to emergency calls.
Rather than using a traditional “beat” system where officers patrol certain areas, the computer-aided dispatch, or CAD system, tracks emergencies and officers’ whereabouts in real time.
This allows dispatch to immediately contact the patrol officer nearest to an emergency, as opposed to having the officer’s radio in the calls — formerly the norm.
“In essence, this means that dispatchers and command staff know where every police vehicle is at all times,” Tempe Police spokeswoman Molly Enright said in an email. “They can send the closest units and resources to an incident, assuring the quickest and most efficient response to get help to a 911 caller or crime in progress.”
The money for the project came after a funding vote from Tempe residents in 2006.
Citywide coverage, Enright said, will still be assured under the new system. The number of officers assigned to certain parts of the city has not increased or decreased; officers can just be more closely tracked.
“It helps get our officers to the scene quicker, it helps us catch the bad guys faster,” said Communications and Dispatch Director Karen Allen.
Other cities in the Valley have been using either the CAD system or an equivalent system for some time, or are currently on their way to using one, Allen said.
In addition to the GPS system that allows dispatchers to track where a call is coming from, RMS, or report writing and records management system, allows officers to better manage information on crimes.
The system also allows officers to wirelessly download or upload of information, such as criminal records, to databases for later use.
“Our new deployment model combined with the new CAD system provides for flexibility, mobility and adaptability — in assigning resources and people when they are needed where they are needed,” Enright said.
Dispatchers and officers have gone through 12-hour training sessions in order to become better-versed in the technology and its applications.
“We’ve been doing some ongoing training just refreshing them on tips and tricks,” Allen said.
Though Allen said there’s no way of checking the response time this early under the new system, she added that anecdotally the system seems to be working out well for the department.
Reach the reporter at clecher@asu.edu
