Problems with the Hamilton County 911 Emergency Communications District’s computer-aided dispatch system will be fixed in a new version of the software coming in January, officials said.

John Stuermer, the district’s executive director, said the current system functions at its most basic level — it can send calls to dispatchers and track the locations of first responders. But it does not quickly transmit information, such as directions to and past history of emergency calls at a location, to first responders headed to a scene. And it does not always send information to officers in the field, officials said.

“These are issues that we have brought to their attention, so they have them incorporated in the newer version,” Mr. Stuermer said.

When the Hamilton County district was tagged as a test site for a new version of a computer-aided dispatch system, no one anticipated the problems. The 2.5 version of the system, created by Positron Public Safety Systems based in Montreal, was implemented in the county in July 2005. The county is the nation’s only agency using that version, Mr. Stuermer said.

The new system version, called Viper CAD, will allow responders and dispatchers to pull up names, phone numbers, addresses, districts, what agency is responsible for that district and any past history of calls from that location, as well as special information regarding difficult directions, said Don Allen, 911 board chairman.

“The new one will be much faster, has much more capacity and will work with mapping and automatic vehicle locator,” Mr. Allen said.

Mr. Stuermer said the current version does not allow information storage when the computer-aided dispatch system in an area is down. The Viper will be able to store information and continue working, though it will not be able to communicate with other emergency systems, he said.

Mr. Allen said he and a couple of board members met with Positron employees last summer and expressed their concerns with the system and the lack of timeliness in responding to problems.

Emergency services is not paying for the system, but it pays Positron for maintenance. The county has been withholding those payments on a “friendly basis” because of the problems, Mr. Allen said.

Positron officials did not return calls last week seeking comment.

Mr. Stuermer said the New Jersey state police have been using the Viper for about a year and have not reported problems.

After the unification scheduled for Nov. 1, employees will begin training on the new system in December, with its implementation scheduled for the beginning of January. Viper will be available in September, but the board voted to wait on its implementation until after the target unification date.

Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Signal Mountain, Red Bank, Collegedale and East Ridge have signed the 911 unification agreement, which will bring all emergency services under one dispatch system.

Comments