MARTIN COUNTY — Emergency call centers in Martin County have been readied for a high-tech future that will improve reliability, streamline operations and soon enable whole new ways to communicate, officials said.

A new call response computer platform is shared by the county’s three 911 dispatch centers, according to Joe Laviano, Emergency 911 dispatch manager for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office. It cost nearly $1 million, which came from state grants.

“We’re now in a position to move to that next generation stuff,” Laviano said.

The new system includes new and updated response technology, such as improved mapping for wireless calls, wireless headsets and programs that automatically respond to and direct calls, said Tami Timperio, vice president of global marketing for PlantCML the communications technology company in Temecula, Calif., that supplied the system.

The new system also has technology that prepares for emergency submissions of photos and videos once national standards are set for them, Laviano said.

“It provides more efficiency and it proves more capabilities to take him into the new century,” Timperio said.

The recent software and hardware upgrades converted the call systems to a common system that will allow dispatchers to operate call centers other than their own easily and efficiently if their center fails.

Before the new call response technology was installed in the centers, Martin County’s call centers had different systems that tracked, directed and recorded calls. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency 911 Communications Center on Montgomery Road used a 5-year-old version of the new system purchased from PlantCML.

The Stuart Police Department and the county’s Disaster Recovery Center, a backup location, used a different system from the same company.

The new system, called VESTA, was also purchased from PlantCML with a little less than $967,000 in non-matching grants from the state Emergency 911 board. The system went live early this month.

With all the centers using the same system, dispatchers will not have to struggle with learning a new program if their own fails in an emergency, Laviano said.

Don Pickard, president of the Martin County Taxpayers Association, said the organization has been in favor of streamlining and consolidating the county’s call centers.

“This is one that we knew they were trying to do,” he said. “And we encourage commonality.”

The Emergency 911 Communications Center on Montgomery Road, which serves the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and Martin County Fire Rescue, received 24 work stations. The Disaster Recovery Center, which serves as a backup, received eight. The Stuart Police Department, which received a different version of the same platform, has four stations.
Alex Tiegen, TCPalm.com

Tags: 911 system, emergencies, Martin County, state grants, technology, upgrade

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