Lake Mary, Fla., Dec. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CentralSquare, the leading provider of public safety and public administration software in North America, announced its ongoing support of the emergency dispatch program at Warren Tech, a career and technical education center for high school students in the Jefferson County School District in Colorado. CentralSquare has donated the computer aided dispatch (CAD) software that powers Warren Tech’s dispatch lab, a training room equipped with 20 dispatch consoles for students to practice, train and put their skills to use.
“We’re grateful that CentralSquare has committed the resources we need to make sure that our program remains top notch and equipped with the technology that many of our graduates will encounter in their careers moving forward,” said Nanci Tatum, an Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO)-certified trainer and Warren Tech’s emergency dispatch program instructor.
According to the National Emergency Number Association, an estimated 240 million calls are made to 911 and routed through approximately 8,900 dispatch centers across the U.S. every year. At the end of the phone line is a citizen seeking immediate, life-saving help. Training programs like the one at Warren Tech prepare its graduates to successfully transition into a career in emergency dispatch by giving them intensive, hands-on training in call taking, dispatching, geography and mapping, stress management and more.
“Our graduates are great assets to communications centers because of the training we provide at Warren Tech,” adds Tatum. “They’re going into the field fully prepared, which helps the centers – many of which are facing staffing shortages – onboard new staff much more quickly and at less cost.”
Eligible to enroll in the program during their senior year of high school, students learn on the same CentralSquare software that many Denver-area agencies currently use, including Adams County Communications Center, Jefferson County E911 Authority and South Metro Fire, among others. Using the software, students are able to act as both the person calling 911 and the dispatcher responding. Upon graduation, students will have had 540 hours of instruction and hands-on training, which includes guest instruction from area agencies. They earn free college credit and industry certifications, including the APCO certification, upon passing the certification test with at least an 80 percent.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that U.S. regulators estimate as many as 10,000 lives could be saved every year by reducing 911 response times by just one minute. This makes clear the need for dispatch centers to be staffed by qualified and highly skilled personnel who are able to thrive amidst the challenges of a stressful work environment.
“Dispatchers are uniquely positioned to touch the lives of people during what could be very stressful or even tragic situations,” adds Tatum. “As a former dispatcher myself, I’m proud to be able to educate and nurture the future generation so that the impression we make in those situations, big or small, is always positive.”
About CentralSquare
Formed by the merger of Superion, TriTech along with Zuercher, and the public sector and healthcare business of Aptean, CentralSquare is an industry leader in public safety and public administration software, serving over 7,650 organizations from the largest metropolitan city to counties and towns of every size across North America. Its technology platform provides solutions for public safety, including 911, computer-aided dispatch, records management, mobile, citations, evidence management and corrections. For public administration agencies, CentralSquare provides software for finance, human capital management, payroll, utility billing, citizen engagement, asset management, regulatory compliance and community development. For hospitals and clinicians, it provides patient information, compliance, and analytics software. CentralSquare’s broad, unified and agile software suite serves 3 in 4 citizens across North America. More information is available at CentralSquare.com