Dispatch Ticket
The heart of the program is the Dispatch Ticket and its related screens. Here is where information gets captured initially. As more gets added to an incident, it all shows up on the Dispatch Ticket, whether in the form of more names or text, or checkmarks that display when information is added on criminal complaints, evidence, prior activity at this location, statements, stolen property, traffic tickets, accident reports, vehicles or even detective division or investigative activity.
Time activity - time call received, time dispatched, on scene, etc can all be entered as the events occur with a mouseclick, or typed in later on. A TimeStamp function in the narrative area allows a dispatcher to automatically create a timestamp for events as things unfold in an incident: Fire Department onscene, detectives notified, showup conducted, whatever may be occurring that you want to know about later.
The History tab indicates any prior activity at an incident’s address as soon as that address is typed in. A green arrow displays to indicate that this address is known. By clicking on the tab the dispatcher or officer in the car can see exactly what has been going on before he or she gets to the scene.
All officers involved in a given call appear in a list right onscreen, whether its one cop or the whole day shift. All persons are listed as well... anyone actually arrested is displayed in red.
Any information that may be related to an incident - criminal complaints, evidence records, statements - is indicated by arrow icons on tab rows. Clicking an arrow takes you directly to that data.
The HotList gives a dispatcher a quick way to review all currently open calls - and monitor a queue of calls that may be waiting to be dispatched. Navigation across calls is just a mouse click on any listed call.
We've even created a Full Text screen for tired old sergeants who can't see as well as they used to. Clicking the Full Text button changes the layout to a simplified display with significantly larger text.
All default fonts in PolicePro are 12 pt. Arial. We never use those tiny fonts that even a 20 year old can't read.
PolicePro's layout schemes have been developed over years of creating the designs and getting feedback from officers and dispatchers. The color scheme itself - gray backgrounds with pale yellow data entry fields - was arrived at after learning that middle aged dispatchers on the night shift were suffering a lot of eye fatigue staring at bright white screens at two in the morning.
The LightBar near the bottom of the screen even tracks the activity status of your cars, posts or assignments - showing who is in service and available, and if they're out of service, where they are and when they got there.
PolicePro is information art. A good dispatcher with a couple of weeks practice and a little imagination can play PolicePro like a piano. Even we are sometimes amazed at what these guys can get out of the program, and how quickly they can do it.
NEXT: Arrests