on the scene: how douglas county coordinates emergency response with mobile staff
TRANSCRIPT
ON THE SCENE: HOW DOUGLAS COUNTY COORDINATES EMERGENCY RESPONSE WITH MOBILE STAFF
AGENDA
• About Douglas County and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office
• The Communication Problem
• Finding a Solution
• Implementing the Solution
• Results Achieved
• Summary
• Technical Overview (Spok)
• Questions
ABOUT DOUGLAS COUNTY
• County seat: Castle Rock, CO
• Founded: 1874
• Size: 844 sq. miles
• Population: 314,000
• Frequently tops media lists for quality of life, job growth, and test scores
ABOUT DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
• County supports many entities:
– Dispatch center
– Jail
– Patrol units
–Medical units
– Several area fire departments
• About 500 staff members, so it’s crucial to get detailed messages to staff at each location and on patrol
THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM
• Existing critical communication solution was 10+ years old and recently discontinued/no longer supported by the vendor
• Needed to find an alternative before existing solution failed during an emergency
• Kicked off research in summer of 2013
FINDING A SOLUTION
• Had many requirements to best support the team and the community:Ease of use for end users
Receive notifications on many different devices
Send notifications to internal/external groups and individuals
Timely notifications key
Fit infrastructure and needs, smooth rollout process
WHY SPOK
• Spok® Messenger (critical alerting)
• Spok Professional Services for project management and implementation
• Purchased in April 2014
• Robust, flexible design fulfilled all of our requirements
• Quickly delivers messages wherever they need to go—in all the formats and to all the devices used
IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION
• Smooth implementation—one of the easiest in my 15 years here
• Frequent communication with Spok technicians and project manager
• Use Spok critical alerting in conjunction with unit’s CAD system
RESULTS ACHIEVED
• Positive feedback from staff:
User-friendlyAble to use right away
Such a great experienceWould recommend
to other agencies
Can do much more with it than previous system
Keeps everyone informed and prepared
RESULTS ACHIEVED: EXAMPLE
• Man barricaded himself in his home with his child
• Douglas County staff used Spok critical alerting to notify SWAT team and other emergency responders for a coordinated effort
• Arrived on the scene very quickly
• Used Spok alerting to continually update other staff on event
• Solid communication via Spok alerting until situation was safely resolved
IN REVIEW
• Drivers:
– Provide fast, effective community response
– Quickly replace existing product that was being discontinued
– Support messaging to multiple device types
– Send alert details to both groups and individuals
• Results:
– Solution that supports our safety and response goals
– Smooth implementation
– User-friendly web interface for easy messaging
TECHNICAL OVERVIEW
• Spok Messenger (critical alerting) is an intelligent system for all messaging requirements
• Enterprise-wide hub for management, prioritization, and response to key events
• Automatic audit trail of all notifications, including time/date stamps and recipients
TECHNICAL OVERVIEW
• Highly flexible: Configured to infrastructure, over 300 vendor systems and carriers supported for complete facility integration
LET’S GET IN TOUCH!
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