Scarborough Public Safety, including police, will be getting a new, updated software syster. Courtesy photo
Scarborough Public Safety is making a significant upgrade to their core system software. The town is working with Tyler Technologies for the project. The upgrade was approved in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget with funding from the Downtown TIF revenue. This upgrade has no effect on the taxpayer rate.
Public Safety is composed of the Fire, Police, and Emergency Communications Division.
“In Scarborough Dispatch, we rely on our dedicated staff, but also we rely on a robust software core system to run both police and fire operations,” said Joe Thornton, communications director at Scarborough Public Safety. “This system handles things like accident reports, arrest reports, EMS and patient care reports, fire alarm systems, locations of emergency exits on buildings, stores all the data we put in for police fire and EMS townwide.”
The core software is utilized for Law Enforcement Records Management, Fire Department Records Management, and Computer Aided Dispatch. A Law Enforcement Records Management System is used for the archival and engagement of records, documents, and information related to law enforcement. A Fire Records Management System provides the same service for the fire department.
A Computer Aided Dispatch system is used by dispatchers, call-takers, and 911 operators. This system helps the Emergency Communications Division manage and record incident calls as well as efficiently organize and dispatch responders in the field.
“Additionally, on top of records software for both police and fire, one of the primary functions of our core system is computer aided dispatch, or CAD,” Thornton explained. “About a third of the overall core system, this is where our call takers will take emergency and non-emergency calls. They enter the information into the computer to verify address, location, directions, and then they categorize the call based on priority. It additionally helps the dispatchers identify what types of resources, how many resources, and the closest resources to the emergency. And it keeps track of where all our assets are, how long they’ve been on scene, how often we need to check them for scene safety, and we can access all that other stored data for the police and fire department: previous arrests, previous contacts, emergency exits, hydrant locations, things of that nature. It really prioritizes the calls coming in so we can provide the best service to the citizens.”
The town learned in 2021 that the current software vendor will no longer provide development and updates. Without continued support from the vendor, Scarborough’s public safety software would not continue to function to the same standard or continue adapting to the evolving world. The current system from 2007 has become outdated. With an updated system, Scarborough Public Safety has better stability for the future as well as increased efficiency, data analysis, and mobility, the town says.
A team representing dispatch, police, fire, EMS, and IT discussed a solution and researched various alternative systems. The priority of the team was to find a vendor that would serve Scarborough’s needs effectively.
The estimated cost of the new system, from Tyler Technologies, including all software, hardware, connectivity, interfaces, user training, and implementation support is $825,000.
“It’s approximately $825,000 to upgrade the core system, but as a public safety team we are confident that this team will meet the needs of the agency and better serve the public,” Thornton said.
The software update is expected to be complete and operational within the next 16-24 months.
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