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Enabling the Next Generation of Public Safety Applications

A new, more integrated approach to communications and information processing is transforming the way public safety agencies operate, collaborate and share information.

Enabling the Next Generation of Public
Safety Applications

A new, more integrated approach to communications and
information processing is transforming the way public
safety agencies operate, collaborate and share information.

In 1928, the Detroit Police Department made history as the first police organization to begin regularly communicating with its patrol cars using one-way radios. And although dispatch radio technology has made a lot of advancements in the last 90 years – including the advent of two-way communications and the addition of computers to the dispatching process – the basic idea behind dispatch communications remains the same. Put simply, police dispatch allows communications between police headquarters and the patrolmen on the street.

In fact, today, when an individual calls 9-1-1 in North America or 1-1-2 on a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications phone in Europe or Asia to report something or to get help, the call is still typically handled much as it has been for the last several decades. The call goes into the dispatcher, who sends out an alert to all police vehicles. The available vehicle closest to the scene tells the dispatcher that they are on their way, and the dispatcher then shares any details he or she has about the situation in question. Once the incident in question is resolved, the dispatcher often records the details – formerly on paper and now in a computer.

Of course, advancements in computing and wireless technology made it possible to streamline the dispatching process, with incident reports coming across mobile terminals. In many cases, police now only have to hit a button to let dispatchers know they are on their way.

In addition to Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, other technologies have emerged to help public safety officials respond to incidents more effectively, to increase efficiencies and to solve crimes faster. Records management systems eliminated the need to create paper logs of incidents. Jail management systems reduce staffing needs and cut down on paperwork by allowing a wider range of public safety officials (not just the records department) to access a database that tracks the movement of inmates throughout the criminal justice system. Officers can quickly tap into jail management systems to access information about current and former inmates such as mug shots and fingerprints, which can help solve crimes more quickly. And mobile applications such as remote license plate checks have emerged to take some of the burden off the dispatching team.

But these systems were all created independently. That means the information collected by each of them is not typically shared, which in turn hinders the ability of first responders to use these systems to help solve crimes. In order to respond more effectively and efficiently, public safety departments today must implement the one essential element their emergency systems are lacking: integration.

The Benefits of Integration

Why is having an integrated public safety communications and database system so important? Because it can allow a dispatch communications scenario that looks more like this: The victim of a purse snatching calls into the emergency dispatch center to report that her purse was stolen just seconds ago. Better yet, she knows which way the robber was headed.

Based on the emergency coordinates of the caller, the dispatcher can immediately use Geographical Information System (GIS) technology to locate the video surveillance cameras nearest to the crime scene to search for the suspect. As the dispatcher calls up the video, he also hits a button to once again put GIS to use to locate the nearest patrol car. He then dispatches those officers to the scene via their mobile terminal.

As the officers drive to the scene, the dispatcher discovers the fleeing individual in one of the video cameras and sends that footage directly to the responding officers. By the time they arrive, the officers on the street know what the suspect looks like and where to look.

With an integrated system, the dispatcher can also quickly call for other available emergency assets if needed. For instance, while fleeing, the suspect might end up causing a car crash that requires other emergency vehicles such as fire personnel or an ambulance to be dispatched to the scene.

Even if patrolmen are not successful in catching the criminal, the video (which is automatically stored in records management) can be accessed to try to isolate a picture of the criminal’s face. That picture can be checked against photographs in the records management and jail management software. Meanwhile, a check on the suspect can also be run through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and available criminal histories can be checked locally.

Implementing an integrated, open architecture approach to information collection and information sharing allows public safety agencies to use the latest technologies to save time and operate more efficiently.

“If you have an end-to-end solution, you can leverage things like multimedia and GIS across the entire suite of products,” says Wayne Eveland, director of portfolio administration and marketing of public safety applications for Motorola.

A Proven Way to Improve Government Responsiveness

Already, forward-thinking government organizations across the globe are using an integrated approach – one that combines record management with dynamic dispatch – to improve response to emergency situations such as natural disasters.

For example, when heavy rains and rising rivers surprised the citizens of Calgary, Canada, the city was up to the challenge, thanks to the fact that it already had an integrated emergency response system in place. Through location-based workflow and mapping, government and public safety officials assigned and routed resources to the trouble spots as they happened.

After the flooding, Calgary used GIS to help position disaster centers. These disaster recovery stations were set up based upon proximity to the highest volume of issues. In addition, Calgary’s Waste and Recycling departments determined bin locations for post-flood cleanup and increased garbage pickups within the impacted areas.

Location processing allowed Calgary to take a proactive approach to utility repairs by predicting which areas would need assistance. Even though the actual flooding made the news headlines, backed up sewers, flooded basements, and blown off manhole covers caused more service requests than the actual river damage.

“Based upon occurrences from the Calgary flooding, we saw trends in certain communities that we could use for future flood control. To combat future flooding, the city built additional flood ponds to alleviate pressure from storm drains,” says the City of Calgary’s Glenn Dreissigacker. “All this was made possible by GIS data because we collected all the flooding complaints, all the sewer backups, and incidents of man hole covers blown out into the street because of the water pressure. We tracked all those complaints, broke them down, and mapped them.”

Post-Hurricane Accountability in Miami-Dade County

Hurricane-prone Miami-Dade County, Fla. has also discovered that an integrated approach to disaster recovery improves disaster planning and recovery – particularly for multi-jurisdictional counties such as Miami-Dade. Miami-Dade’s integrated response system supports the planning process, event triage, and post-event analysis for natural disasters such as hurricanes.

During active events, the system’s mapping capabilities provide significant insight into a hurricane’s impact. For example, the areas that are not calling into the center may be in need of urgent response. And managers can use the system’s mapping and performance metrics for post event analysis to help determine where to deploy resources during future events. As a result, managers can implement process changes targeted at improving low performing areas.

In the Middle East, management of live video has contributed to many successful military missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. And a more integrated approach taken by law enforcement in European countries such as the United Kingdom has allowed more timely and accurate emergency responses while also improving forensic capabilities. This was evidenced by the arrests subsequent to the July 7, 2005 suicide bombings in London, where suspects were captured by closed-circuit television cameras.

But many first responders around the globe are still struggling with integrating and managing the enormous amounts of information they deal with every day.

“When riding along with police in countries around the globe, I have witnessed firsthand the need for advanced applications that allow agencies to better manage massive amounts of information and to create relevance across their systems,” says Eveland. “It is why Motorola is so committed to designing integrated public safety systems from the ground up to meet those needs.”

Taking it to the National Level

In the future, integration can (and will) be taken even one step further. For instance, multiple agencies in the United States can now share information using the U.S. National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), which is the standard specified for intergovernmental information exchange. This will make it easier not only to respond effectively to widespread disasters, it will also allow easy analysis of the effectiveness of the disaster response after the event.

In fact, using funds from the U.S. Homeland Security Department, many U.S. states and local cities have already created “fusion centers” to share information and intelligence within their jurisdictions as well as with the federal government. But an integrated approach to communications must start at the local level before it can be effectively supported at the state or national level.

“While terrorism attacks don’t happen every day, disasters on the scale of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, the recent earthquake in China, Cyclone Sidr in south Asia or even widespread forest fires do take place on a yearly and sometimes even monthly basis. You need to share information at both the local and the national level to respond effectively,” says Motorola’s Eveland, who spent 25 years with the New Jersey State Police prior to joining Motorola. “And if local agencies cannot share information between their own communications systems and databases, how can they share information effectively with other agencies during a widespread disaster?”

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