Consolidating 18 PSAPs to 2 with a single CAD system

DuPage County, Illinois’ consolidated PSAPs use Hexagon technology to operate on a shared system to reduce transfers and create a smoother workflow for dispatching calls

The challenge

Located in the Chicago metropolitan area, DuPage County is Illinois’ second-most populous county with nearly 1 million residents. DuPage County call-takers and dispatchers handle around 600,000 911 calls every year. This large call volume used to be spread across 18 PSAPs, most within small, local police departments. There were four different CAD systems utilized throughout the county and several communities were dispatched by PSAPs outside the DuPage 911 authority system.

During the economic downturn in 2009, smaller PSAPs elected to close, and the 18 geographic PSAP locations were consolidated into two: DuPage Public Safety Communications (DU-COMM) and Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center (ACDC), to serve 62 police and fire agencies.

The solution

DuPage County carefully considered what it needed to meet its goals for the two consolidated PSAPs and chose Hexagon’s CAD, RMS, analytics and mobile solutions to increase efficiency.

The fully integrated, countywide solution supports multiple concurrent users – 60 CAD, 975 mobile, 700 RMS and 350 field reporting, plus more than 50 interfaces. With Hexagon’s CAD, the centers can now get help to residents faster since all 62 agencies can see queued calls for service.

“Communicating with your vendors is critical because they can’t help you if they don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish. Hexagon is a true partner to us and helped us all along the way.”

Linda Zerwin

Executive director

Emergency Telephone Systems Board of DuPage County