Public Safety Communications - February 2009

Coming Soon to a Console Near You:  Innovations in Computer-Aided Dispatch
By Ralph Gould

No one is going to change this computeraided dispatch system unless they’re ready to pry my bleeding fingers off my keyboard,” so veteran dispatchers and 9-1-1 calltakers have proclaimed thousands of times. But if those telecommunicators could check out the user-friendly innovations CAD vendors have already made or will soon be implementing, they might be all too glad to part with their old, slow systems. Conferences and trade shows offer just such opportunities, and the 74th Annual APCO International Conference & Exposition last August gave me the chance to get my hands on CAD systems from dozens of vendors.

CAD has evolved—even if many in public safety communications haven’t witnessed this evolution. Today, comm centers get much more bang for their buck. Computers are faster, software is better, mobile technology has greatly expanded, computer interconnections are better, and reporting is improved. The numerous CAD demonstrations at the APCO International conference and other regional conferences are the best places to see this evolution (see sidebar p. 44). Just follow a 9-1-1 call through tomorrow’s CAD system* to see what I mean. (*If you don’t ask for it, you’ll never get it.)