Stoddard County 911 has become the first agency in Missouri set to roll out new public safety software from Zuercher Technologies to integrate many agencies within the county to one system.
Stoddard County 911 Administrator Carol Moreland credited the passing of a 2016 tax behind the upgrade.
"We are so grateful to the citizens of Stoddard County for passing the tax so we can do what we are about to do today," she said. "It passed with 76 percent majority. That spoke loud and shouted out for public service in Stoddard County."
Moreland and her department began their search for new 911 equipment and Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) in April 2017.
While Moreland admits she had a vendor in mind heading into the search. Many demonstrations were seen, but Zuercher was not on the initial list.
In a last-minute agreement, Zuercher was able to present their product to Stoddard County.
"They swept us off our feet and were by far the better company," Moreland said.
Zuercher Technologies, based in South Dakota, offers one solution for 911 and CAD equipment.
The new equipment will put the Stoddard County Sheriff's Department, Dexter Police, Bernie Police, Bloomfield Police and Stoddard County Ambulance all on the same system for the first time.
According to Moreland, other departments can be added when technology is available.
"They will remain separate departments, but working together more efficiently to serve our citizens in a better way," she said.
Dexter Police Chief Trevor Pulley said all agencies working off one system will provide easier and quicker response times for all departments.
In addition, all agencies will be sharing one record management system making all data shareable within the county, Pulley said.
October 2018 is when the new 911 system is set to "go live" and CAD will follow in February 2019.
Zuercher provides four software upgrades per year, opposed to updating equipment every five years or so, which was being done, as well as managing all servers at no additional charge as part of the maintenance.
"The benefit is in five years you will still have an up-to-date system," Zac Bradish of Zuercher said. "The system grows with you over time."
Throughout the partnership, Bradish said the company takes feedback from agencies to fit their needs as well as assisting IT with backups.
"Five, 10, 15, 20 years down the road you guys still have an up-to-date system and not something based on decades old technology," he said.
Each entity is being asked to pay a one-time data conversion fee and yearly maintenance, while Stoddard County 911 will pay the rest from funds provided through the 2016 tax that was passed.
"When we passed this tax we vowed to our citizens that we would make progress," Moreland said. "Today is progress."
Zuercher CAD+911 is superior to standalone CAD and 911 products, she said, because of the way call taking and dispatching functions converge.
"The two systems are truly integrated, allowing dispatchers to see calls and location data from their Zuercher CAD system displayed on the 911 call screen," she said. "Dispatchers will be able to rebid from Zuercher CAD and outbound dial directly from CAD."
Zuercher Account Executive Dan Snell met with representatives from area agencies and the county last Thursday in Dexter. He discussed the many features and functions the software will include and what it means for the citizens of Stoddard County.
"There is one application and one database," Snell said. "You don't have all these interfaces going back and forth with one another."
Three major areas enhanced upon with Zuercher CAD+911 will be time, safety and intelligence for all agencies involved within the county.
As an overview, Snell gave an example of how the software will serve Stoddard County in its entirety.
If someone were to get pulled over in Bernie, Snell said, and was hostile toward law enforcement and then drove to Dexter, all agencies would know the person's background and the nature of the previous stop.
"From a safety standpoint for officers, that's powerful," Snell said. "If he were taken to jail, all information and charges would also be available."
Notifications such as warrants, accidents, alerts and more are shared quickly across the board, Snell added.
The new system will also include Caller Location Query (CLQ), which Zuercher has patented and is the only company in the industry with the feature.
CLQ is innovative technology for locating cellphone callers.
If a cellphone caller were lost or hurt in a remote area, their location is picked up off the closest cell tower, rather than their actual location.
CLQ allows dispatchers to send a text to the cellphone and get accurate location information.
Once opened, help can be dispatched along with medical information and an estimate of when help will arrive, Snell said.
Following protocol, all abandoned 911 calls require a callback attempt. According to Moreland, this presents an enormous time and resource drain to the center and increases the risk that processing of legitimate 911 calls will be delayed.
"Stoddard County will save time and money by using automatic abandoned call processing technology," Moreland said.
This feature automatically sends an SMS or text to "hang ups."
"Citizens are more likely to respond to SMS versus a voice callback," she said. "This allows the call center to quickly distinguish accidental calls from true emergencies."
Mobile mapping is another feature included in the Zuercher CAD+911 software, which allows agencies to see what incidents are happening at that moment. Neighboring jurisdictions can also see and respond as backup if needed.
Online crime mapping, also included, not only helps agencies, but communities as well in terms of community awareness, crime and activity going on in the area.
Tracked and displayed through the volunteer of agencies, citizens can see fraud, burglaries, drug use, arson, robberies, sex offenders and more in an area.
"These are all things you would like to know as a citizen," Bradish said. "This is a good tool to allow communities to see what's going on in their neck of the woods and this is great on a ton of levels."
According to Moreland, this is just the beginning for Stoddard County and she looks forward to growing their system with Zuercher in the future.
"I think we are all in agreement we have picked the right company," Moreland said.