NKAPC’s collaboration with Erlanger’s emergency dispatch service has garnered some international attention. So much so, in fact, that Steve Castor, director of communications for the emergency dispatch center traveled to Paris, France recently to share the technology with departments there.
The buzz involves Erlanger’s use of crime-mapping and reporting software, which provides real-time data for police officers in their patrol cars. The new technology allows officers to access reports generated from data put into the system immediately from all Kenton County cities served by the Erlanger dispatch center.
Todd Wallace, NKAPC’s systems administrator, set up the software for the dispatch center. He also configured the incorporation of NKAPC’s GIS mapping capabilities into the dispatch center’s crime mapping system.
“The software’s capabilities are helpful because numerous jurisdictions can use it at the same time, getting away from cities working in silos,” he said. “It creates reports for them on any data in the system immediately.”
In addition to reviewing real-time reports efficiently, officers are now able to search the database through Lucene, a Google-style search engine.
“Erlanger was one of the first in the world to implement a real-time search in a crime database system,” Wallace said.
Local officers have been using the software, which was developed by Information Builders, for about a year now. The increased efficiency and collaboration between departments has proved successful.
“NKAPC has worked behind the scenes to help make it happen,” said Trisha Brush, GISP, NKAPC’s deputy director for GIS administration.
NKAPC is committed to ongoing assistance to the Erlanger dispatch center.
“Our next challenge is for officers to be able to add more data such as warrants to the search,” Brush said. Warrants are currently accessed by a separate system, so this upgrade would make information gathering even more efficient.
The team is also working on an interactive mapping system that will illustrate addresses for all dispatch calls within a 24-hour period.
“We’re successful when our collaborators are successful,” concluded Brush.