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Franklin County Regional Dispatch and Data Sharing Project
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The Greenfield Police Department is actively engaged with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) and cities and towns in Franklin County to look at current emergency dispatch and information sharing capacity and functionality. Facilitated by several iterations of Homeland Security funding as well as U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services Technology Grant monies, the functional infrastructure of informational data sharing has taken shape. The ultimate goal of the initiative is to ensure that there is fully functional and affordable emergency dispatch capability within the whole of Franklin County as well as a backbone by which the county's emergency service providers can share critical data. Essential to emergency responder and public safety is functional communication between software systems. Simplistically, a Dispatch (CAD) system to receive, assign personnel and resources and document calls for service communicating flawlessly with a Records Management (RMS) component to document all aspects of incidents whether police, fire or emergency medical calls from which needed reports and statistical data may be generated. The project seeks to ensure that there is a functional, interoperable connection between the county's Computer Aided Dispatch and the Records Management softwares to be used by all participating departments. This capability is critical, particularly in times of significant, multi-jurisdictional events and responses.
As part of this effort, a feasibility study is proposed which will look at each of the three existing Emergency Dispatch entities, or Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP's). They are presently operated by Montague Police Department, Greenfield Public Safety Dispatch and Shelburne Control. The study is intended to assess the capabilities of each existing PSAP in all facets of operation and service provision and identify strengths and weaknesses of each. The end result of the study will be a report detailing how the County might be able to configure a single Regional Emergency Communications Center, also known as an RECC. The study will look at operational structure, staffing levels, governance, funding opportunities, sustainability and other essential areas.
A second focal area of the project is to complete the installation of a single regional computer server of sufficient capacity to run and house all of Franklin County's Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Service software and data in a secure and fully redundant manner. Connections into this centrally located server will be accomplished by virtual private networks (VPN's) over existing high-speed internet connections. The system will also allow for data sharing to mobile data terminals (in-car computers). At present the computer hardware has been purchased and plans for installation and configuration are moving forward. The decision-making process on software suites is also in progress and a Request For Proposals or RFP is in the development stage as the software costs are projected to be in excess of $400,000 dollars.
If you would like more information about this project you may contact CPT John Newton at the Greenfield Police Department either by phone at (413) 773-5411 ext. 1304 or by email at newtonj@greenfieldpd.org.
If you are a selectboard member, Fire Chief, Police Chief or EMS Director in a Franklin County town we would appreciate you completing a survey by following the link below.
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