Butler County, Ohio: Improved 9-1-1 call response via GeoLynx 9-1-1

The Butler County Sheriffs Office has been using VisionAIRs Computer-Aided Dispatch (VisionCAD) for nearly nine years. Recently the Department implemented GeoComm's dispatch mapping software (GeoLynx 9-1-1).

VisionCAD and GeoLynx 9-1-1 are truly integrated applications with a bi-directional data exchange. Telecommunicators enter calls in VisionCAD, and the calls automatically populate on the map. Conversely, telecommunicators have the ability to start calls from the map, which automatically sends the data to VisionCAD. With numerous benefits from the tight integration between VisionCAD and GeoLynx 9-1-1, Butler County Sheriffs Office has improved their response to 9-1-1 calls.

Active call in GeoLynx 9-1-1

In January 2009, about a month after going live with GeoLynx 9-1-1, a call was received regarding a car that had driven into a swimming pool. Apparently, the vehicle's operator lost control of the vehicle while traveling on a roadway behind the residence. The vehicle went through a fence, crossed the yard, and came to rest with the car teetering half on the tarp covered pool and half on the yard.

One of the first calls to come in was from a motorist who saw the vehicle leave the roadway. The call information was entered in VisionCAD and the callers location immediately plotted in GeoLynx 9-1-1 and zoomed to the location. Since the caller was on a roadway behind the residence, they could not tell the dispatcher what the address was or even the street name of the house with the pool. All the caller could say was the road they were on and that a car went through a fence and into a pool. Using GeoLynx 9-1-1, the dispatcher had a general idea of where the incident occurred based on the cellular callers GPS location.

Soon after, as it usually happens, additional calls came in regarding the same incident, including a couple of calls from neighbors whose locations also displayed on the map. More calls came in and all the icons started appearing around the scene of the incident, both from the roadway and from the houses next to the location of the car in the pool. It became apparent where the incident was on the map simply by the fact that it was practically surrounded by icons. If that was not helpful enough, by clicking on the address in the center of the markers and opening Pictometry®, an aerial photograph opened up and the pool and road behind the house that the car was traveling on were visible.

In my excitement, I explained to someone else in the room that this was an image of the pool where the car was. Everyone was so caught up in the moment that someone actually asked, Wheres the car? I laughed and said, That kind of technology is still a bit in the future. But it made me think of just how close we really have come to such ability with the GeoComm mapping software! Sgt. Mark Ketteler, Butler County Sheriffs Office, stated.

Needless to say, dispatchers appreciate the added value GeoLynx 9-1-1 delivers to their CAD system as well as the integration between GeoLynx 9-1-1 and VisionCAD.

Other Dispatch GIS Benefits Realized

Besides responding to this and other incidents with greater geographic reference using GeoLynx 9-1-1 and VisionCAD, Butler County dispatchers are seeing other benefits including the ability to:

Immediately locate cellular 9-1-1 caller locations on the map
Mark road closures and controlled burn sites
Geographically confirm repeat calls on an incident
Increase familiarity with the county and county roadways
Have better directions provided to emergency responders

About Butler County, Ohio

The Butler County Sheriffs Office is one of 88 Sheriffs Offices in Ohio. Butler County, located in the southwest corner of the state, has a population of around 360,000 and is only possibly known nationally for what was once its best kept secret for decades. Fernald, Ohio, was home of the Feed Materials Production Center where most of the uranium cores were fabricated for use in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons program from the 1950s through the 1980s.

Butler County dispatch center averages 125 9-1-1 calls a day and handled over 72,000 calls for service in 2008.

Butler County dispatches for 3 township police agencies, 13 fire departments, and 10 Life Squads.