A project long in the works, has finally reached the training stage.

Chris Dozier, Pike County E911 director, said local law enforcement agencies had recently finished Phase 1 of their training on the new CAD, or Computer Aided Dispatch, System.

“In this training they identified what information would need to be collected by each user agency prior to attending Phase 2 training,” Dozier said. “The second phase of training is scheduled for March 24th – March 26th.”

During training, Dozier said law enforcement officers and first responders were able to see the different features that would be set up using the new CAD, such as the text messages notifications that responders would be able to receive for certain calls.

“They also showed us the different features that we would be setting up with this information such as text message notifications sent out to responders for calls that we would want them notified of and unit recommendations for each call type just to name a few,” Dozier said. “They covered all of this for CAD, mobile CAD and for our Record Management System for each agency in Pike County.”

Dozier said representatives from Pike County 911, Pike County Sheriff’s Office Troy Police Department, Troy Fire and Brundidge Police Department. Lt. Bryan Weed, public information officer with Troy Police, said officers would greatly benefit from the system upgrades, particularly the upgrades to the mobile CAD units.

“This is gong to give our officers the ability to make notes on the CAD that we haven’t been able to do without having to first call a dispatcher and have them do it,” Weed said. “It’s giving them the option to do something that they haven’t been ale to do without before, and it frees up our dispatchers from having to worry about that.”

While Weed said response times for Troy Police was not generally an issue, harder to locate houses could add additional minutes to response times. However, with officers having the ability to add notes in the mobile CAD, Weed said this should be less of an issue.

“We have residences that we go to that may be difficult to find if you haven’t been there before, but this new system will give officers the chance to make notes when they find the house and put a description of the location,” Weed said. “They’ll be able to put location on a call that other officers will be able to see, which will hopefully speed up response times and get us there quicker.”

Weed said officers would also benefit from the GPS systems being put into all of the officers’ vehicles.

“This will give us the capability to locate officers if we have someone who is not responding to a call,” Weed said. “With the new system, we will be able to pull up the GPS and be able to locate that unit and send back up if needed.

Weed said the biggest benefit from the GPS location would be during emergency situations with officers.

“As for as officer-safety standpoint, it’s something that we are excited about. As much time as our guys spend on the road, they could have an accident, but if we don’t receive a call and no one came upon the wreck, that officer could be not found for unknown amount of time,” Weed said. “So, we’re really excited about that aspect.”

Dozier said it had been a long process that all of the local law enforcement agencies were glad to see coming into its finally stages.

“This has been a very long road that I am excited to see come to an end soon,” Dozier said. “This would not have been possible without all of the help and input that we received from many emergency responder agencies throughout the county. I believe that everyone that will be using this system will find that it is a very helpful tool in communications, responder safety, inter agency cooperation, and will provide many benefits that the county does not currently have.”

Weed echoed Dozier’s sentiments, stating that all members of the Pike County Community, not just law enforcement officers and first responders, would benefit from the system upgrade.

“We’re excited about the whole thing because at the end of the day it’s going to be a good thing for everyone,” Weed said. “We are expecting there to be some growing pains, but once we get all the glitches out, any time you put something in new there are bound to be some, we really think it’s going to improve our capabilities from what we can draw from to serve the community better.”