Milwaukee Communications Center receives software change, aims to shorten response times

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- CBS 58 got a look inside Milwaukee's Emergency Communications Center on Friday, March 1, where a major software change aims to take response times down for police and fire calls. 

"The computer is automatically determining which squad is the closest based on GPS. The dispatcher doesn't have to figure that out anymore so that speeds everything up," said Captain Anne Marie Domurat, Milwaukee Police Department.

Milwaukee's Emergency Communications Center is a busy place.

"Substantial progress has been made both in terms of the number of call takers we have, the number of dispatchers we have, the retention levels we have. Call-takers and dispatchers have already been trained on the new CAD system, which is a unified system. Now that we have cutover to the new system, we can begin universal call-taker training (UCT), which will involve training police call-takers and dispatchers on fire/EMS call-taking and dispatching protocols and procedures, and vice versa. UCT will occur in a phased approach and will take about a year to get all call-takers and dispatchers trained (there are 160+ call-takers/dispatchers in total). As we progress with UCT, more and more staff will be trained until we reach 100% status," said Leon Todd, executive director of Milwaukee Fire and Police Commision.