ON THE SCENE: HOW DOUGLAS COUNTY COORDINATES EMERGENCY RESPONSE WITH MOBILE STAFF

AGENDA

• About Douglas County and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

• The Communication Problem

• Finding a Solution

• Implementing the Solution

• Results Achieved

• Summary

• Technical Overview (Spok)

• Questions

ABOUT DOUGLAS COUNTY

• County seat: Castle Rock, CO

• Founded: 1874

• Size: 844 sq. miles

• Population: 314,000

• Frequently tops media lists for quality of life, job growth, and test scores

ABOUT DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

• County supports many entities:

– Dispatch center

– Jail

– Patrol units

–Medical units

– Several area fire departments

• About 500 staff members, so it’s crucial to get detailed messages to staff at each location and on patrol

THE COMMUNICATION PROBLEM

• Existing critical communication solution was 10+ years old and recently discontinued/no longer supported by the vendor

• Needed to find an alternative before existing solution failed during an emergency

• Kicked off research in summer of 2013

FINDING A SOLUTION

• Had many requirements to best support the team and the community:Ease of use for end users

Receive notifications on many different devices

Send notifications to internal/external groups and individuals

Timely notifications key

Fit infrastructure and needs, smooth rollout process

WHY SPOK

• Spok® Messenger (critical alerting)

• Spok Professional Services for project management and implementation

• Purchased in April 2014

• Robust, flexible design fulfilled all of our requirements

• Quickly delivers messages wherever they need to go—in all the formats and to all the devices used

IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION

• Smooth implementation—one of the easiest in my 15 years here

• Frequent communication with Spok technicians and project manager

• Use Spok critical alerting in conjunction with unit’s CAD system

RESULTS ACHIEVED

• Positive feedback from staff:

User-friendlyAble to use right away

Such a great experienceWould recommend

to other agencies

Can do much more with it than previous system

Keeps everyone informed and prepared

RESULTS ACHIEVED: EXAMPLE

• Man barricaded himself in his home with his child

• Douglas County staff used Spok critical alerting to notify SWAT team and other emergency responders for a coordinated effort

• Arrived on the scene very quickly

• Used Spok alerting to continually update other staff on event

• Solid communication via Spok alerting until situation was safely resolved

IN REVIEW

• Drivers:

– Provide fast, effective community response

– Quickly replace existing product that was being discontinued

– Support messaging to multiple device types

– Send alert details to both groups and individuals

• Results:

– Solution that supports our safety and response goals

– Smooth implementation

– User-friendly web interface for easy messaging

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

• Spok Messenger (critical alerting) is an intelligent system for all messaging requirements

• Enterprise-wide hub for management, prioritization, and response to key events

• Automatic audit trail of all notifications, including time/date stamps and recipients

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

• Highly flexible: Configured to infrastructure, over 300 vendor systems and carriers supported for complete facility integration

LET’S GET IN TOUCH!

Learn more:

CASE STUDIES VIDEOS

We’d love to hear from you!

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