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Carson City 911 dispatch center makes $1.2 million software upgrade

Tuesday morning at 5 a.m., the Carson City Sheriff’s Office implemented upgrades made to the key public safety infrastructure system known as Tiburon. The 18-month, $1.2 million project was funded by the Board of Supervisors last year.

Project and Communications Manager Karin Mracek was on hand at the Carson City Dispatch Center early Tuesday as the 15-year-old system was shut down and the new software system turned on. The implementation phase went just as projected and had no impact or delay to any city or emergency services.

Providing direct support to the change-over were most of the city's information technology employees, Carson City sheriff and fire representatives, nine Tiburon technicians and support personnel, along with trainers and operators both at the Communications Center and the Sheriff’s Office.

Throughout the day, as each component of the system was activated, technicians assisted to verify and adjust to any challenges encountered.

Sheriff Ken Furlong is declaring this project "an absolute success." Not only was the newer system turned on without any interruption of services, but the project was completed on time and under the budget, he said. Dispatch Manager Mracek and Assistant to the Sheriff Christine Tuttle did an outstanding job, said Furlong.

The Windows-based Tiburon upgrade is replacing the older Unix data technology of the 1980’s. This advantage allows city Information Technology experts greater maintenance access, insures continuous support from Tiburon, and enhanced critical information systems supporting officers and fire/paramedic personnel responding to the community needs. For Carson City residents, this means that those data systems supporting our public safety entities, along with many other Carson government departments, have the most reliable and efficient systems available.

The upgraded new Tiburon system is the same as used by many large metropolitan agencies across the county. Efficiency in cost and operations has always been a goal of the Carson City Sheriff’s Office. This platform provides computer aided dispatch and 911 services at its core.

Because the decision was made years ago to operate all sheriff’s operations from a single streamlined platform, the intelligence based system then feeds information directly to emergency response personnel in the field, and provides the connections to the reporting and detention management components. The single platform philosophy reduces costly interfaces, and enhances technical challenges that could arise.

Over the last 15 years, managers of the Tiburon system have successfully saved the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars by working closely with Tiburon to insure the integrity of the system. This will continue in the future. The new platform enhancements feed city, Sheriff, and Fire officials with critical information that is used to monitor key public safety performance indicators. This feature was critical, since the Carson City Sheriff’s Office alone draws over 600 data indicators from the system every month.

Among the performance measures delivered are emergency response times, crime rates, crime mapping features, and community demand for services. The ability to gain real time data is a fundamental responsibility of the managers and expansion capabilities were critical. Sheriff Furlong received assurances that with Tuesday's implementation, the Carson City community will be served for years to come with the best and most efficient public safety platform affordable.

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