Case Study | City of Austin/Travis County, Texas
Creating a Multi-Agency, Multi-Jurisdictional Command & Control
Key Benefits:
- Empowering field personnel with real-time incident details
- Coordinated joint response between agencies
- Function as a team while retaining existing agency requirements
- Instill confidence that emergency situations are handled accurately and expeditiously
- Improved dispatch and response performance
Agency - Mobile Units
- Austin Police - 1100
- Austin Fire - 130
- Austin-Travis County EMS - 70
- Travis County Sheriff - 350
- Austin-Bergstrom - 12
Vital Statistics
- Area Served - 1,024 sq. miles
- Population - 1,249,763
- Call Volume - 1.7 million (annual)
- Go Live - May 2004
- Dispatcher/Call-Taker Seats - 100+
Products
- VisiCAD
- VisiNet Mobile
- VisiNet Browser
- VisiNet GISLink
Interfaces
- Paging
- AVL
- Station Printing
- Station Alerting (Locution)
- Tiburon RMS interface
- FDM RMS interface
- ANI/ALI and TDD
- TXDPS Proxy (Records Check) with additional databases
- Deccan
- ProQA
- Radio Interface (Regrouping/PTT/Statusing)
- Alarm Billing Interface
Challenge
How do six agencies with unique service needs eliminate operational and disparate barriers to achieve interoperability? Strong commitment and innovative technology make it all possible.
The Texas Department of Transportation (DOT), Austin‐Bergstrom International Airport (via city wide area network), Austin Police and Fire Departments along with Austin‐Travis County’s EMS and Sheriff’s Department were spread throughout a vast area and utilized two CAD systems without any type of integrated response, data sharing or advanced capabilities. Prior to TriTech, dispatching was done by using closest line of sight and mobile radios were the primary method of communications. The Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center (CTECC) that forms the multi‐agency consortium had a vision for interoperability when seeking technology vendors for a long‐term partnership.
Solution
The Combined Transportation, Emergency and Communications Center (CTECC) in Austin, Texas integrated multiple city, county and state agencies under one common operational platform utilizing TriTech’s VisiNet CommandTM and VisiNet MobileTM solutions. CTECC’s vision was to create an interoperable environment and enable all of the participating agencies, departments and field personnel to function as a team as well as retain their existing agency requirements.
In partnering with TriTech, the CTECC now has a seamless Computer‐Aided Dispatch (CAD) solution and next generation mobile system that creates a dynamic Multi‐Agency, Multi-Jurisdictional operational blueprint. The partnership also emphasizes mutual‐aid commitment and a long‐term strategy for expanding community reach (new cities, agencies coming online) and future technology enhancements.
VisiNet Mobile is a wireless PC-based mobile fleet application that seamlessly extends computer-aided dispatch systems to in-vehicle laptop computers. The innovative application provides the law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies with seamless integration to their TriTech Command and Control solution, VisiNet Command, and equips field personnel with unparalleled real‐time access to the information they need. VisiNet Mobile continually shows real‐time incident details and unit locations over vast coverage as they occur. Additionally, access to public and proprietary databases via VisiNet’s robust message switch enables sharing information across other agencies.
The Solution: The Consolidated Communication Center
VisiNet Command enables over 100 Dispatcher/Call‐Takers to provide cross‐agency regional call taking and dispatch with seamless communications to VisiNet Mobile users (Police, Sheriff, Fire, EMS and Airport) in the field. The agency's field personnel are equipped with robust capabilities for resource management, AVL and routing, messaging, reporting, easy‐to‐use in‐vehicle computer touch screens for call status, mapping and unit tracking. Regardless of the location of the mobile units, they can be fully deployed by dispatch and communications across joint task teams.
The mobile technology allows us to bring more counties online for Regional Dispatch and enhances our services. This allows for faster response times through shared resources and cross training, saving taxpayer dollars and creates seamless Joint‐Agency response (Fire, Medical and Law Enforcement).- Lt. David K. Belknap, Austin Fire, Texas
“”
“VisiNet Mobile enables our agency to provide the citizens of Austin and Travis County a reliable and quality service for emergency pre‐hospital medical rescue. Its advanced multi‐agency communications and automatic vehicle location features, among others is mission critical for first responders,”says Jasper Brown, Austin‐Travis County EMS.
VisiNet Mobile is the core application for the Austin Police Department’s (PD) 1100 Mobile units with an anticipated target of 1500 users. Mobile’s in‐vehicle computer screen and audio features provide dynamic information sharing between the communication center and the units while on calls. VisiNet Mobile enables law enforcement to see real‐time updates for all calls, both emergency and non‐emergency, while the records checks system enhances officer safety.
“VisiNet Mobile is the cornerstone for our department to effectively communicate and respond more quickly to situations. Its dynamic communications capabilities with real time updates and ESRI‐based mapping (routing, GPS) are crucial for law enforcement safety, enabling joint‐agency responses to better protect and serve the community,” Sgt. Derek Galloway, Austin Police Department.
Similar to Austin PD, VisiNet Mobile enhances officer safety for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office as supervisors now know the location of all their units. From an administrative perspective the decrease in response times, even by seconds, can further enhance officer safety with the added benefit of increased safety for the public. The ability to manage calls while out in the field empowers field personnel to instantly view calls and assign themselves to the call based on their proximity. The ability for self management minimizes radio traffic and allows dispatchers to handle incoming calls, rather than spending time tracking down incident locations or other units.
Lt. Robert Mills of the Travis County Sheriff Department knows that the system will continue to positively enhance performance and improve safety. "VisiNet Mobile has proven itself as a solution that empowers field personnel by putting the information they need at the tips of their fingers to better respond to calls, and to enhance their safety and that of the public”, said the Lieutenant.
VisiCAD to Traffic Management System, the first in the United States
In 2004, VisiNet Command was integrated with the Austin Dept. of Transportation’s Traffic Management System via Wide Area Network (WAN) to provide up‐to‐the‐minute status on the highway road network throughout the area. Installed road sensors allow for monitoring traffic slowdowns, construction, and traffic accidents. The road sensor technology and integration with VisCAD's Mapping Engine provides real‐time information to the call‐taker/dispatcher who can then monitor the road network prior to dispatching an appropriate unit. VisCAD will modify response recommendations accordingly to minimize response times when units are dispatched along the road network.
The innovative project has reported to have reduced response times by up to 1.5 minutes off the 5‐6 minute average. The project went live and is a valuable part of the CTECC vision for improving public safety and reducing response times to emergency situations.
