'Significant plus for public safety,' police chief says of shared tech with fire teams
New dispatch system will allow fire services to operate under a common platform with police
Waterloo Regional Police (WRPS), Kitchener Fire Department (KFD) and Cambridge Fire Department (CFD) are working toward using a joint computer dispatch system that will help them share data.
Currently, all three services operate with their own dispatch systems.
KFD provides dispatch services for fire departments in Waterloo, Woolwich, Wilmot and Wellesley, while CFD provides dispatch services for North Dumfries.
Waterloo Region Police already has the upgraded computer dispatch infrastructure in place, which is shared in with police services in Guelph, Brantford and Stratford. Now the force is focusing to spread that technology across the region.
"It really stems from from a number of reviews that we've done around public safety and emergency response," said police chief Bryan Larkin.
Benefits
The new system will allow fire services to operate under a common platform with police. Fire services and police will be able to share data, mapping software, send computer messages to each other and share dispatch information.
"It's a significant plus for public safety as well as for efficiency," said Larkin.
Kitchener Fire thinks jumping on board with police on a shared system comes just in time.
"The timing works out well as our current computer system is at the end of its life cycle," said KFD chief Jon Rehill in an email to CBC News.
The joint dispatch system won't be up and running until November 2018 as significant infrastructure work and training still needs to happen.
The project will run simultaneously with a police effort to introduce a new voice radio system.