User Story: PSAPs

Lieutenant Judy Dunn manages Dispatch services at St Albans Police Department Dispatch Services (PSAP). They process 150,000 calls per year with 9 FT and 3 PT dispatchers.

The St. Albans Police Department is located in Northwestern Vermont in Franklin County, serving both the citizens of the Town and City of St. Albans, providing Administrative, Patrol, Investigative, Crime Prevention, Dispatching and Emergency Management services. St Albans Police Department Dispatch Services (PSAP) provides dispatching for over 30 entities :

• St Albans Police Department,
• Fire departments (Isle LaMotte Fire Dept, St Albans City Fire Dept, Alburgh Fire Dept, Enosburgh Fire Dept, Fairfax Fire Dept, Fairfield Fire Dept, Franklin Fire Dept, Georgia Fire Dept, Grand Isle Fire Dept, Highgate Fire Dept, Montgomery Fire Dept, Richford Fire Dept, St Albans Town Fire Dept, Sheldon Fire Dept, South Hero Fire Dept, Swanton Fire Dept, Bakersfield Fire Dept, Berkshire Fire Dept, North Hero Fire Dept)
• Ambulance services (Alburgh Rescue, Amcare Ambulance, Franklin Rescue, Fairfax Rescue, Georgia First Response, Grand Isle Rescue, Richford Ambulance, Missisquoi Valley Rescue, Montgomery Rescue, Sheldon First Response, South Hero Rescue, Berkshire First Response, Isle La Motte First Response, Enosburgh Ambulance, Bakersfield First Response).

Q When did you first start working with Valcour CAD/RMS™?

A St Albans Police Department (along with the 34 agencies we dispatch for) rolled out Valcour CAD/RMS™ on May 1, 2013.

Q How is Valcour CAD/RMS™ is working out for St Albans?

A It has worked out very well. Valcour’s workflow and ease of use have made my staff more productive, allowing, for example, for much faster supervisor review and approval of our cases.

Q How would you characterize the Valcour Program Manager/Mentor Community in Vermont?

A The Valcour Community is very helpful, all I need to do is send an email or pick up the phone and I get immediate help.

Q Can you talk a little about the work you do in administering Valcour for St Albans?

A I really like my ability to manage access and changes to Valcour (e.g., create a new user, lock a case, create new passwords, etc.). The changes are easy to make and I don’t have to wait for someone else to get things done.

Q How does the Valcour practice of pushing new releases every week work for you and your staff?

A When I report important bugs and feature requests to the Valcour Program Managers, they typically get dealt with within a couple of weeks, so we are really happy with that.

Q Can you give us an example?

A St Albans was the first PSAP to move to Valcour in the State of Vermont. Because we dispatch so many Fire and EMS departments in addition to the PD, our dispatchers were unable to see all the incidents and units on one screen in the Valcour dashboard. I asked for the ability to collapse/expand incidents and was pleasantly surprised when this feature turned up on my dashboard within two weeks. Now, our dispatchers can see all the important incident details on the dashboard when they need to, yet see only summary information when those details aren’t necessary.

Q Can you summarize your experience with Valcour so far at St Albans?

A I think that significant improvements have been made in St Albans by moving to Valcour. I am quite happy with the decision to roll out Valcour and look forward to working with the Valcour community and CrossWind to make Valcour even more useful for us in the future.