Lieutenant Jennifer Reidy, Commander of the Communications Division and PSAP Director for the Howard County Police Department in Maryland, is keenly aware of the benefits and challenges new technology has on agency personnel and operations. After the replacement of five major systems in the last three years, including a new CAD system and the implementation of police and fire protocols, Lt. Reidy wasn’t sure how her team would accept yet another change – another new technology.
Howard County is one of the five largest counties in Maryland, serving over 336,000 residents plus the large commuter population due to its geographic location between the City of Baltimore and Washington D.C. With 80 personnel, the PSAP handled over 427,000 calls in 2023. The consolidated center dispatches for the Howard County Fire/Rescue and Police Departments, Sheriff’s Department, and provides call routing and support to the Maryland State Police.
Still, after seeing a demo of Motorola Solutions’ real-time transcription service in action and knowing they were due for a VESTA 9-1-1 refresh, with hopeful trepidation, Howard County decided to introduce real-time transcription that integrates with VESTA 9-1-1.
No risks, all gains
When Howard County went live with the refreshed VESTA 9-1-1 system, they selected a dispatcher who is always open to trying something new and giving honest feedback as the first to use the transcription service.
“He completed the online training in advance, like all our dispatchers did, and we decided during go live to just go for it and see what happened,” explains Lt. Reidy. “It integrates with VESTA 9-1-1 and uses the VESTA monitor, so there was no risk to any other system. Once he began using it on a live call, watching the words appear on the screen to match what he was hearing, the value was immediately visible.”
“Most importantly,” Lt. Reidy points out, “as with all new implementations—the technology did what it was supposed to without any negative impact. There were no barriers to opening and using it, it didn’t take away screen real estate, and it was not difficult to navigate.”
With such a positive first take, Lt. Reidy decided to gradually introduce the transcription service to the rest of the team. “The immediate reaction was, ‘this is a lot of valuable information with no risks and all gains. We started walking around the room, showing everyone how to use it. Within 2 weeks, word of mouth had spread on how helpful it was—quick, and painless.”
Lt. Reidy is proud the team has embraced the new technology and uses it consistently. Of the 80 dispatchers for Howard County, she says 95% benefit from a level of assistance they haven’t had before.
Benefits in three key areas
Dispatcher
Lt. Reidy says the most expected benefit is for the call takers/dispatchers who always have the transcription service open and available on their console.
“Our dispatchers are able to confirm phone numbers and verify what a caller says. In emergency situations, there are so many variables. The caller or someone in the background may be screaming, making it hard to hear. If you don’t catch the caller’s name or an important piece of information, all you need to do is look back at the transcript and it’s right there. It even identifies if a caller is speaking Spanish and translates the call to English in the transcription. Our call takers need backup and transcription gives them that back up— right in front of them.”
Supervisors and Commander
Lt. Reidy experiences benefits unique to supervisory responsibilities. She explains that transcription allows her and her team to monitor calls remotely, from their offices on another floor of the building and even off site. The ability to listen to calls and view transcripts from anywhere allows them to keep an eye on things and make sure calls are entered quickly and accurately.
“Monitoring gives me a greater level of access to what’s happening on the floor. I am another set of eyes and ears to make sure units are getting dispatched as quickly as possible. It’s an additional safety measure to make sure we are doing everything the right way.”
Lt. Reidy says it also helps supervisors on the floor, who are looking at the transcription screen that shows all the incoming calls. “It helps them decide what to pay attention to or even which call to listen to. A quick glance and they can see which calls are emergency, and whether a call involves a knife, a gun, or is happening at a school. It allows supervisors to listen to one call while checking on another. And it definitely helps them know which dispatchers might need help or support afterwards.”
Quality Assurance
Since implementing real-time transcription, Lt. Reidy says the center now offers faster, more efficient Quality Assurance and helps with training veterans and new hires. She describes that previously they had to pull reports and listen to a call’s audio recording and, if there was an issue, create a new report to relay the issue to the dispatcher. Often it required meeting with a dispatcher to review the call together.
“Now, we can pull up the transcription and point to the audio we want to hear. It’s faster to pull up, faster to listen to, faster to confirm protocols were adhered to. The quality assurance admin can cut and paste what was said so there is not as much back and forth and often no need to listen to the call with the dispatcher for verification. We get more done more quickly. Plus, for trainees, because of how much faster it is to QA a call, we can get closer to our goal of reviewing 100% of their calls. The transcription service helps us get there efficiently.”
Primed for more
So, what’s next? According to Lt. Reidy, this is just the beginning.
“This one, specific Next Gen technology is easy to swallow but it is part of the much bigger picture,” says Lt. Reidy. “We’ve dipped our toes in the NG9-1-1 pool and are relieved to find that it wasn’t painful and has great benefits. The team is now primed and open to the next steps of Next Gen.”
