Hialeah's telecommunicators now use a fully integrated CAD system that allows police officers remote access. (Photo Courtesy EnRoute)

By Mary Estes
For years, police and fire dispatchers in the City of Hialeah, Fla., have diligently managed emergency calls in a growing city of more than 226,000. The challenge was operating dispatch centers six miles apart. In October 2009, all this changed when the nearly 50 police and fire dispatchers and calltakers merged into the city’s new comm center. Today, cross-trained on a new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, telecommunicators serve Hialeah’s citizens from a high-tech facility.

Located in the fire administration building, the 3,000 square-foot center features 15 new workstations that are networked to high-availability Stratus servers. Also integral to the consolidation was the upgrade and integration of the two legacy dispatch systems — a job assigned to EnRoute Emergency Systems LLC. The company has worked with the city for more than 20 years. The system was financed by a federal grant and the city budget, and features FBI-standard security encryption, enhanced mobile mapping, records management and field-based reporting.

Last fall’s launch of the integrated CAD solution for law enforcement and fire/EMS gave Hialeah’s public officials reasons to celebrate. Mayor Julio Robaina points to the technology’s ability to migrate 25 years of data and protocols from their NCR platform to the new Microsoft Windows environment as a key factor of the project’s success. “This not only simplified and accelerated training of our dispatchers, but also saved the city considerable money,” he says.

The system is designed to facilitate a quick response to incoming calls, rapid dispatch of the required units and complete documentation on the incident. Common features include color-enhanced screen information; standard or ad-hoc queries and reports; user-programmable function keys to speed dispatch; and modules that adapt to state and local regulations, departmental methodologies and site-specific system security.

Hialeah's new consolidated comm cenr for police and fire/EMS is 3,000 square-feet and features 15 new workstations. (Photo Courtesy EnRoute)

Web Access
EnRoute’s I-STATUS was included in the upgrade. The software provides real-time Web access from secure desktops or handheld devices to the CAD, allowing designated officials to obtain current call status and resource availability information remotely and can also notify users of high status calls. With 250 police mobile data terminals and a field-based reporting system, officers can file citations electronically from the patrol car and share information car to car.

Hialeah Police Chief Mark Overton likes the high-security features and speedier response made possible by a system that instantly — and graphically — locates and sends the most appropriate unit for a call.

According to Fire Chief Marcos De La Rosa, mobile mapping benefits fire rescue. “Instead of flipping through a binder, we can quickly see the location of the nearest fire hydrant,” he says. “The system helps prevent overburdening one truck by tracking the truck status at all times, so the most appropriate vehicle is dispatched.”

Streamlining IT
Hialeah maintains a streamlined information technology (IT) department led by Chief Information Officer George Brackett. The department supplies and oversees IT for every city department, including public safety. Twelve civilian staff members are cross-trained in procedures for all city operations and are FCIC/NCIC-certified, which helps them support public safety. This extra help — along with intense training (25 hours for each IT staffer, dispatchers and calltakers) — resulted in a seamless transition to the new system that never compromised public safety.

George Landgrebe, vice president and general manager of EnRoute Emergency Systems says, “We were pleased we could build on Hialeah’s existing public safety infrastructure and combine this with highly developed tools that advanced their capabilities.”

About the Author
Mary Estes is the principal of Estes & Company Marketing Communications of Tampa, Fla. She represents clients in a variety of industries, including technology, public safety, health care, retail and hospitality. Contact Margaret Moran at EnRoute at 813/207-6911 or info@enroute911.com. FYI: www.enroute911.com

Origially published in Public Safety Communications, 76(2):60-62, February 2010.