Purchases include new dispatch and records management systems and mobile terminals.
Posted: Monday, December 2, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 6:46 am, Mon Dec 2, 2013.
By RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer | 0 comments
CLAREMORE - The city council recently OK'd nearly a half-million dollar upgrade in police department technology.
Approved was the $446,116 purchase of a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, records management system (RMS) and mobile data terminal (MDT) from Salt Lake City-based Spillman Technologies.
"It will be a more efficient service for the officers and the citizens," said Mayor Mickey Perry, former longtime Claremore police chief.
Spillman Technologies Inc. is an industry leader in law enforcement and public safety software, providing products, training, support and services to more than 1,000 agencies and 70,000 public safety professionals in 37 states nationwide, according to its website.
Claremore's funds will be earmarked for software, installation and training, Assistant Police Chief Charles Downum said. The project is expected to be completed within 10 to 12 months.
A technology committee was formed to study what improvements were available and review the equipment's capabilities in the field, Downum said.
"It brings us into modern times," he said. "It will bring safety to the officers and just get information out quickly. The response times should improve with the use of this.
"It also should minimize the duplication of records and keep officers out in the field, where they can do reports in the cars instead of having to come back here and find a work station."
Part of the mobile system is an automated vehicle locator, which aids in dispatching the closest cruiser to incidents.
Perry said money to fund the upgrades will be taken from restricted 911 funds, fees generated from emergency calls made from landlines and cellphones.
"We have collected those fees for years and saved them up to purchase this without any hit from the general budget," he said.
Requests for the systems' hardware will be made closer to the project's completion.
"A year from now or 10 months from now, things will have changed so much, anyway," said Downum, who helps supervise 38 full-time officers. "We didn't want to select something now in case there's a better product in the future or a less expensive product."
He said the improvements have been seven to eight years in the making.
"It's a huge expense," Downum said. "You just want to make sure it's right. So we've put a lot of time and effort and research in it. We hope we've found the best fit for us."
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Rhett Morgan 918-581-8395
rhett.morgan@tulsaworld.com