How to Reduce 911 Call Processing to 1.5 Minutes or Less

Jurisdiction matters, sometimes too much. Jurisdictional boundaries map out which agencies are responsible for which areas. Although it’s helpful to delineate responsibility, there are incidents it doesn’t account for.

Things like crimes, emergencies, and disasters all span jurisdictional borders. If a major car accident occurs on a county line, real-time details can be sent to police, fire and EMS so that all parties can coordinate effectively and optimize resources.

CAD-to-CAD solutions remove boundary lines so public safety agencies can be focused on public safety, not jurisdiction. These systems provide cross-agency collaboration, reduce call processing times and improve emergency response. Keep reading to learn how a CAD-to-CAD system equipped South Metro Fire Rescue to respond to a drowning emergency in the fastest time possible.

Case Study: South Metro Fire Rescue

The Emergency

Nearly three years ago on June 5th, South Metro Fire Rescue received an emergency call from Chatfield State Park in Colorado. Fearing her husband was drowning in the reservoir, a woman called 911, trusting first responders to arrive quickly to save him.

Thanks to CentralSquare Unify – a CAD-to-CAD system used by multiple jurisdictions in Chatfield – the South Metro dispatcher was able to see all available units near the park. Fortunately, a West Metro unit was three minutes closer than any other unit.

The dispatcher routed them to the scene immediately. She didn’t need to call West Metro to check availability. She didn’t need to look at another screen or click a notification box. Everything was right there in her CAD – no extra steps needed and no wasted time.

Upon arrival, divers got to work right away. They found the man and brought him to shore, where West Metro EMS provided CPR, medical aid, and transportation to the hospital.

The Solution

When lives are on the line, seconds and minutes matter. In the incident above, CAD-to-CAD interoperability allowed South Metro to coordinate a fast response across jurisdictions. Whether it was a South Metro unit or a West Metro unit didn’t matter. What mattered was sending the closest unit available to help a family in crisis.

Interoperability is the ability of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems to communicate across various agencies and jurisdictions. It allows agencies to share and receive data, updates, and resources despite the different platforms they may operate on.

Unify by CentralSquare is the leading CAD-to-CAD interoperability network in the US. It connects within the systems you already use to save time and save lives.

“It doesn’t matter what it says on the side of the truck…the person calling 911 truly wants the closest help on their worst day.”

Dustin Kern, Dispatch Supervisor, South Metro Fire Rescue 911

The Result

Dispatchers have a series of steps to take when handling emergency calls. As you know firsthand, processing calls often includes:

• Answering the call
• Gathering information
• Triaging the call
• Dispatching units
• Providing instructions to the caller

On average, it takes public safety agencies 4.5 minutes to complete the steps above – too long in many emergencies. A portion of this time may include instructions to the caller as they wait for first responders to arrive. Without a CAD-to-CAD system, dispatchers may also need to call neighboring agencies manually to see if they have a closer or more appropriate unit available. This also takes time.

CentralSquare Unify eliminates back and forth communication between agencies during emergencies. In fact, it has been shown to reduce phone calls by 50%, because the most relevant information is already available to the dispatcher on screen.

Not only that, agencies using Unify are able to process calls in 1.5 minutes or less, on average. That is a drastic reduction in time, and in dire situations it could save lives.

Moving Beyond Boundaries

Jurisdictions are important in public safety. They delineate the authority of law enforcement, court systems, etc. But when it comes to emergency response, jurisdictional boundaries can be more bureaucratic than helpful.

When minutes count and families are in crisis, something as trivial as agency boundaries shouldn’t stand in the way of emergency services. Between real-time data sharing and resource management, agencies should be working together to serve citizens.

During incidents where multiple services are needed, a CAD-to-CAD system allows agencies to see the bigger picture. This visibility helps prevent the overuse of resources in one area while another is under-served. It also allows for more strategic planning, since agencies can anticipate needs and shift resources proactively based on real-time data from the field.

Your agency may have concerns with interoperability, like sharing data with other agencies or collaborating across disparate systems. Solutions like CentralSquare Unify allow agencies to choose what data to share.

Not only that, our technology lets disparate systems communicate with a familiar code set. Our solution is not proprietary to a specific CAD and is currently being used with more than 30 non-CentralSquare CAD systems.

Many CAD-to-CAD solutions only provide basic situational awareness. They show a picture of activity within your region, but fail to provide true integration between partner agencies. Schedule a discovery call today to learn how Unify can help you achieve true interoperability and better serve the community.