911 CAD Systems: Supporting Dedicated 911 Professionals (2024)

A tour of a typical 911 center, the type of site that boasts a 911 CAD system like the ones Caliber Public Safety offers, will include a few things you’d expect. There are large synchronized time displays, which represent network-synchronized time across the 911 call center’s network. There are workstations at which call-takers and dispatchers do their work. There are support personnel in their various offices.

And there will usually be a small, dimly lighted room.

That room, regardless of whatever form it takes, is the reason 911 CAD systems are such an important means of supporting 911 operators and dispatchers. A 911 CAD system, or Computer Aided Dispatch system like CAD NG, automatically checks for priors, notices, BOLOS, premise records, response plan information, and more, all of which displays in the system’s incident window. With features like advanced mapping, embedded CIS Run NCIC, and other CJIS-related queries directly available through the 911 CAD System, the software ensures that critical information is provided to those who need it.

This critical information not only makes the operator or dispatcher’s job a little easier but helps get needed personnel where they need to go faster. At the same time, the 911 CAD system provides information that responding personnel need to protect their own lives while better protecting and serving the community at large. But the one thing the 911 CAD system will never do – that no 911 system, accessory, support product, or other programs can ever do – is eliminate the need for that small, dimly lighted room.

Most 911 call centers have them, in some form or other. It’s a place where operators and dispatchers can go to get away from their workstations, get some space from their latest call, and collect, compose, or calm themselves. The job of 911 call center personnel is not merely fast-paced and not simply demanding; it is an emotional and psychological burden that underscores just how difficult a job such personnel tackle on a daily basis.

As recounted by Zippia, there are around 66,000 911 operators in the United States, who (according to InTime) handle 240 million calls made in the United States every year. These calls range from the mundane to the medically urgent to the absolutely horrific. From medical emergencies like heart attacks, to automobile accidents, to active shooter incidents and other mass casualty events, the calls handled by personnel in a 911 center can take a crushing toll. Call center personnel are at risk for PTSD and burnout (a feeling of powerlessness, feeling overwhelmed, and hating the job), often accompanied by symptoms like chronic fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and depression. The attrition rate is very high; the national turnover averages 14 to 17 percent nationwide.

Caliber is proud that its 911 CAD systems can help support these dedicated 911 personnel – men and women who take on so much in order to accomplish something so very important. The next time you think of the number “911,” take a moment to consider the people who are on the other end of the call… and who see to it that first responders get where they need to go as quickly as possible. There isn’t one of us who has not counted on the work these people do. We offer them our sincere thanks.

By Jake St. Cyr|2023-04-04T14:05:02-04:00February 8th, 2023|CAD, Caliber News|Comments Off on 911 CAD Systems: Supporting Dedicated 911 Professionals