The Callaway County Emergency Operations Center is preparing to test a software dispatch system designed to make response to emergency calls for law enforcement more consistent.
Western District Commissioner Doc Kritzer said the system, for which the county originally agreed to invest $40,000 - half to be paid up front and half to be paid once it was up and running, works in a similar way to the ProQA program used at EOC for the Callaway County Ambulance District.
When a call comes into the EOC, Priority Dispatch grades the call for level of urgency and provides the dispatcher with a series of questions to ask based on the information provided by the caller, thus establishing a set protocol for information-gathering.
"This makes sure whether you have a trained dispatcher or a less-experienced dispatcher, they're asking the same questions in a systematic method so the information can then be relayed to the law enforcement officer and they have consistent information," Kritzer said.
He said the county actually purchased the Priority Dispatch software a year ago because it was made by the same company that makes the similar ProQA program the EOC uses for the Callaway County Ambulance District.
"Because we were buying from the same vendor ... we felt like this was a pretty safe investment. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite worked out that way," Kritzer said. "There were a lot of interface issues (with other EOC systems) so we pretty well shut it down after about 30 days."