By Jeremy Boren
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
ALLEGHENY COUNTY, Pa. — Allegheny County’s 911 dispatchers are learning to use a new $10 million computer system that could help police, firefighters and paramedics reduce response times in emergencies.
The Tiburon “computer-aided dispatching” or CAD system is set to go online Aug. 8 once the county’s 260 call-takers and dispatchers learn to use the new palette of high-tech capabilities. Officials provided reporters today with a demonstration of its capabilities.
One of the biggest improvements will be the ability for laptops in police cruisers, fire trucks and ambulances to communicate instantly with emergency dispatchers, said Chuck Perry, a 911 technician.
“Right now we have to assume that every ambulance is available all the time,” he said. “With the new system we’re going to know who’s available at all times.”
That means dispatchers won’t have to wait up to two minutes for emergency responders to acknowledge a call.
A dispatcher will be able to pinpoint available units and determine how close they are to an emergency with an upgraded mapping system that can display satellite images and the size and layout of buildings instead of simple street maps, which is what dispatchers use now.
The 911 system also will tell dispatchers what special tools and talents on-duty certain responders possess.
For example, “They’ll be able to ask the CAD who on duty speaks Spanish and then they can dispatch that person,” said Rebecca Frazier, assistant manager of emergency services.
The system also will tell dispatchers which police cars and fire trucks are equipped with automatic defibrillators, which can be used to restore a regular heartbeat in a heart attack victim, or “spike strips,” which police use to stop a fleeing car during a police chase.
The old system doesn’t contain that information, Perry said, which sometimes means dispatchers must send multiple emergency vehicles to an incident to ensure at least one will have the correct tools.
In a major behind-the-scenes improvement, the dispatching system will fully merge the county and Pittsburgh 911 systems.
The two divisions officially merged in 2005, but the city and county have been using different, outdated equipment. Emergency cell phones calls from the city that are answered by a call-taker who handles suburban calls must be transferred to a city call-taker before they can be handled.
That transfer wastes precious seconds in an emergency situation, Frazier said.
“That won’t happen anymore,” she said.
Initially, 911 technicians will roll out the program to 10 public safety departments including Pittsburgh and Allegheny County police.
Sixty-eight out of 108 municipal police departments have the required in-car laptops, known as mobile data terminals, to use the upgraded 911 system. Frazier said departments must purchase their own computers and wireless data “air cards” but the county will provide the software to connect with the 911 system.
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