Approximately 70 Jackson State University Public Safety Department police officers, dispatch- personnel and security guards completed training on computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and incident management reporting.
The training took place over a three-day period, May 9–11, at the Mississippi e-Center@JSU so that staff from all shifts had an opportunity to attend.
According to Willie Gray, emergency manager of Jackson State University, the installation of the new dispatch system will enhance the job quality of public safety officers and administration. Previously, incident reports were typed or handwritten and could be filed only at public safety headquarters on the Jackson campus.
“If they (officers) are at an offsite location, they would have to wait until they arrived back at headquarters to do an incident report, so now they can do an incident report from whatever patrol area they’re assigned,” Gray said.
Under the new system, when a call is placed to the dispatcher an initial report will automatically generate. This report will contain the information received by dispatch. As a result, officers will need to enter only the details of their response to the call. Reports will be filed online instead of the traditional method of physical files and file cabinets. This will also expedite any follow-up reporting process by reducing the duration of time spent on manual searches.
Carrie Hyche, a JSU security officer with more than 10 years of experience, considers the updates “very helpful” and believes it only solidifies the department’s continuous efforts to assure the safety of the administration, faculty and students.
A mapping service is a system feature that the department plans to utilize in the foreseeable future. “When a call comes in, we’ll be able to tell where you’re calling from like 911 does when you’re at home. That’s the direction we’re headed. If someone gets a call from someone on campus, we’ll be able to tell what office or building it’s coming from,” Gray said.
Deputy Chief of Administration Calvin Matthews is confident that CAD will help measure efficiency and effectiveness, therefore, saving time and money. It also enables supervisors to “proof and review the officer’s reports” and streamlines the tracking of violators.
“If we had a person leave this campus who was coming up here trespassing, now this system provides a picture. When the officer runs their name a picture will come up. You can verify them not only by their name but also by a picture. So this is just a win-win system, new technology. This is the future. It’s here, and we have it,” Matthews said.
The Department of Public Safety’s transition to CAD has already begun but will officially deploy on July 1.