By: Matt Price, Photojournalist: Rich Crane and Ryan Trowbridge
See full broadcast clip here.
HOLYOKE, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – The Holyoke Police Department is about to get a technological boost that will benefit officers and make the city safer. For the last couple of years, officers had worked with an aging records management system, but now, things are about to get more modern.
“Officers create reports, our dispatchers are able to send and collect information data from 911 callers and dispatch police officers. Also, officers can create reports and generate reports themselves,” said Holyoke Police Sgt. Samuel Del Valle.
After tons of research, Holyoke Police announced its partnership with the leading cloud-native safety provider, Mark43. With the new records management system, there will be faster report-writing, a call and dispatch system that will pinpoint exact caller and responder locations, summarize law enforcement trends to make informed decisions through critical analytics, and there will be accurate crime reporting, thanks to a national incident-based system. Del Valle said the $120,000 to $130,000 system is a must-need.
“Pretty much, every community in Massachusetts, and really in New England, will have to start searching for a records management system to replace the aging one that is no longer being supported,” Del Valle explained.
A key benefit of the upcoming system is that it would work with another program that Del Valle said would help Holyoke Police respond to scenes more quickly.
“If ShotSpotter has an activation through the programming with Mark43, Mark43 will be able to receive the data and information from ShotSpotter and then be able to add that information into ShotSpotter,” Del Valle noted.
In the end, it is all about making sure the public is safe and officers can get the job done.
“If something were to happen where they’re working on a report and they have to report, like the old system, you had no mechanism of saving that. Now, you’re able to stop, respond to the incident, and come back and finish your reports,” Del Valle added.
Holyoke Police hopes to start using Mark43′s system by the end of 2024 or early 2025.
Original Story: https://www.westernmassnews.com/2024/01/17/holyoke-police-receive-new-technology-aimed-helping-officers-making-city-safer/
