Bay Area

City Completes Upgrade of Dispatch System for 911 Emergencies

“Oaklanders deserve to feel assured that when they dial 911 in an emergency, someone will be answering swiftly to start dispatching the emergency responders they need,” said Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao. “Public safety is my administration’s highest priority,” she said. “This system improvement builds on the investments we have made to staff up our hardworking dispatcher units. Now we have more people using better tools to deliver for our community.”

Published

9 months ago

September 8, 2024

Oakland Post

Photo: iStock photo

By Post Staff

The City of Oakland announced this week that the police and fire departments have launched the city’s new Motorola PremiereOne Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, the most significant public safety technology project that the city has undertaken in the past two decades.

The upgraded system replaces the old CAD system that was no longer supported by Motorola. The process of finalizing the project and installing it took several months.

On the morning of July 30, dispatchers began receiving calls on the new system.

“Public safety is my administration’s highest priority,” she said. “This system improvement builds on the investments we have made to staff up our hardworking dispatcher units. Now we have more people using better tools to deliver for our community.”

The new CAD system is fully functional, highly secure, and makes public safety communications more efficient, using integrated equipment and interagency information sharing capabilities, according to a statement released by the city.

“The launch of our new PremierOne CAD system provides our Communications Division with a state-of-the-art platform for 9-1-1 dispatch,” said Oakland Police Chief Floyd Mitchell. “CAD provides an enhanced user interface that supports our dispatchers in their daily tasks and seamlessly integrates with other information systems to support a more coordinated and effective response.”

“As the volume of 911 calls climb, our firefighters and medical service units deserve the best tools possible to help with a timely, well-informed response,” said Fire Chief Damon Covington.

“This work represents contributions from many individuals, and I especially want to recognize those from the Information Technology Department,” said Chief Information Officer Tony Batalla.

The City has increased the percentage of 911 calls answered to within 15 seconds – the industry standard for pickup time. In early 2023, Oakland was meeting that standard for 36% of 911 calls. In August 2024, that percentage had increased to 51%.

The City of Oakland Media relations office is the source of this report.