SPRINGFIELD — There are concerns delays caused by a system outage at an area dispatch center could be putting lives at risk in part of the Miami Valley.
As reported on News Center 7 at 6, local first responders in Clark County are without their Computer Aided Dispatch, or CAD, systems.
Without them, they’re forced to rely on radio dispatching only.
Walter Snead works at a restaurant right across the street from a Springfield firehouse.
He watches medics and firefighters leave for emergency runs all the time.
Walter knows how important their response times can be.
“Seeing as how they’re your first line of defense if you’re hurt, if you’re sick, or if you need help. The quicker they get to you the better chance you have of surviving an injury or getting the help that you need,” Snead said.
>> PREVIOUS COVERAGE: System outage ‘significantly impacting’ first responders, forcing them to rely on radio dispatching
In a statement, Springfield’s city manager and its police and fire chief said in part, the outage is “significantly impacting public safety services” and “causing delays in dispatching and responding to calls for service.”
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office operates the dispatch center.
In an email to News Center 7 they said the outage is out of their control and the county is working hard to fix it. They added they “don’t have data to show the connectivity issues have actually delayed responses.”
The agencies that had access to the CAD system and were impacted by the outage are Springfield police and fire and road deputies for the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
Full statement from Springfield city manager and its police and fire chief:
“The ongoing connectivity challenges the City is experiencing with the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems are significantly impacting public safety services and the City’s ability to provide efficient service to the community. Key concerns are:
Reduced Efficiency in Service Delivery - The frequent connectivity issues with CAD systems are causing delays in dispatching and responding to calls for service, leading to inefficiencies in managing and clearing calls.
Increased Radio Traffic - Officers are relying on radio dispatching. This method, although effective, becomes inefficient with the high call volume at the Springfield Police Division. Due to the amount of incident information that must be relayed to respond to a call for service, there is a potential for delayed response time.
Risk of Missed Details - The City has reliably utilized an in-car CAD system to respond to calls for service since 2007. The reliance on radio dispatching alone increases the potential for errors in receiving incident details.
Impact on Officer Productivity – As public safety staff spend more time communicating over the radio, clearing calls for service becomes more time consuming, which can lead to a backlog of pending calls and delayed response times. Addressing these connectivity problems is essential for maintaining our commitment to efficient, effective service delivery to the community.
The City recognizes the work that Clark County is doing to help rectify this situation, by working through these issues to ensure that officers are receiving thorough and detailed information when being dispatched to calls for service.”
Full statement from Clark County Sheriff’s Office:
“I would not want to miss a great opportunity to acknowledge the hard work of the Clark County communication operators. This group of professionals has been actively working to provide the best services for the entire county while dispatching calls for service for city, county, townships and service providers through all situations. The connectivity issues that are being mentioned have been challenging for both fire & law enforcement personnel and has created more work for the communication operators. As technology continues to improve, the ability to provide more efficient dispatching and coordination for delivery of services also improves. With the connectivity issues that has been taking place, much of the information sharing has come on the backs of the “dispatch center” to dispatch calls over the radio and to dive into systems to access information and to check warrants or alerts on locations and/or people that could be accessed from reporting softwares that officers could access themselves rather than relying on dispatch to provide it. The give and take of communication during emergencies is vital and our dispatch center carries much of this burden as part of the record keepers of calls for service and desire to equip responding officers/resources with up to date information for the safest resolution possible.
The city has expressed frustrations and discussed possible delays in response and while these possibilities exist, the same possibilities exist for all law enforcement and fire agencies. The possibilities exist but I don’t have data to show the connectivity issues have actually delayed responses. In an emergency any delay is critical and at this time those possibilities exist but have to receive additional attention to overcome or avoid to the best we can. The Sheriff’s Office is a user of the reporting software just as Springfield Police is as well. Clark County government leaders are working on these issues currently to best address the problem. The Sheriff has devoted personnel to participate in meetings along with Springfield Fire and Springfield Police and are in the same “proverbial boat” with the other agencies as the issues are being worked on. The County Commission is working with user groups to deliver services relating to public safety on behalf of the reporting system. The inability for officers to connect to our reporting system is not within the control of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office and we are provided updates when available as well on the connectivity issues but the fixing of these problems are out of our control or power to correct.
Public Safety leaders are in unison on wanting to provide the best, safest and most efficient services for our community I would believe. The Clark County IS Department is working on the issues with communication with Motorola and other vendors but there are some concern that these issues will only be short term with the Citrix environment. I am not aware of what the fix will be but we understand that Clark County IS working on the issues.
We anxiously await updates and most importantly a resolution and want to ensure the public that our officers are working diligently to provide services to safeguard citizens even if systems are down. While our officers work hard, the Communication Center and their operators are working long shifts and have been super stars during these challenging times. Technology’s great but when technology fails, the fact that we have come to depend on it creates vulnerability. The personnel that work in our dispatch center wants every officer, fireman, medic to be safe while dealing with emergencies and takes all measures possible to ensure their return home safely.”
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