In Pierce County, Washington — a Seattle suburb and the second most populous county in the state — 41 public safety agencies were directed by five separate 911 centers with multiple different dispatch systems. As a result, emergency services struggled to communicate effectively, and police departments failed to efficiently share information with their teams and with fire and rescue agencies.
It was a recipe for disaster. And yet, it became a catalyst for one of the most ambitious change management efforts in public safety history. Recognizing the need for change, Pierce County 911 centers collaborated to increase public safety and invested in technology to consolidate their systems. This systematic approach to transforming an organization’s operations and processes led to the creation of South Sound 911.
Today, instead of five 911 centers, there is one master communications center for the entire county, along with an additional center for Tacoma Fire. All call centers now operate on one, central computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, a digital tool that can help simplify and improve processes for prime efficiency.
According to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and a 2013 market analysis by Deltek, the number of public safety answering points (PSAPs) nationwide decreased from 7,485 in 2013 to 5,748 in 2021. All over the country — and around the world — PSAPs are consolidating and improving their internal structures to better serve their communities.
Other agencies can look to Pierce County as an example of how change management practices are implemented in decades-old public safety solutions. When consolidation is the right choice for agencies, implementing new technologies and unifying their systems can help PSAPs improve their workflows, cut costs and ultimately, better serve their communities.
https://www.police1.com/911-and-dispatch/is-consolidating-emergency-communications-centers-right-for-your-agency
