Waukesha County selects Motorola platform for new 911 network

SCHAUMBURG - Waukesha County, Wisconsin, officials have selected Motorola Solution's Emergency CallWorks CallStation as part of the county's transition to a next-generation 911 network.

Emergency CallWorks CallStation is a browser-based platform that combines call taking, incident management and mapping systems into a single platform. CallStation will get Waukesha County ready for NG911, which will allow citizens to send more digital information such as texts and pictures through the 911 network and, eventually, directly to first responders.

As the state of Wisconsin continues toward adoption of a formal NG911 plan, Waukesha County is already seeing benefits from key features of CallStation, such as the interactive map that allows users to quickly determine the caller's location before answering. CallStation allows dispatchers to prioritize calls and dedicate resources to potentially unrelated 911 calls. Previously, call takers would have had to answer the call in the order it was received.

"Public safety dispatchers are often the first point of contact when citizens have an emergency, so immediately knowing where the call is coming from can save time and potentially save lives," said Gary Bell, director, Waukesha County Communications. "CallStation features such as the interactive map allow users to quickly provide details from the 9-1-1 caller to public safety personnel en route to an incident or accident."

Another timesaving feature of CallStation is the ability for one-touch transfer of calls. In the past when a caller reached Waukesha's public safety answering point but needed to be transferred to another department or neighboring PSAP, multiple steps were needed depending on the type of call received. In 2015 Waukesha transferred approximately 23,000 of the more than 328,000 calls received by the seven PSAPs. The ability to transfer those callers with a single click saves call takers precious seconds they can allocate to emergency situations.

"Emergency CallWorks CallStation helps police, fire and other first responders better manage critical incidents by allowing more information to flow from the public to emergency personnel," said Tom Guthrie, vice president, Motorola Solutions Smart Public Safety Solutions. "Waukesha County recognized the advantage of implementing software that supports older analog systems and facilitates a smooth migration to NG9-1-1 without incurring a major expense."