Successfully integrating a new public safety system for the City of Oxnard
Featured success story
Public Safety System Advisory
Population: 200,000
Client background
Oxnard, CA, the largest coastal city between Los Angeles and San Francisco, has experienced significant population growth due to its scenic location and proximity to major business centers. This surge in residents has placed greater demands on the city's Public Safety services, provided by both the Oxnard Police Department and Fire Department. However, the existing information technology infrastructure lacked the necessary incident management capabilities to handle the expanding scope of services and increasing number of incidents.
The business challenge
The technology supporting Oxnard's Public Safety teams was outdated and unable to meet the increasing demands of modern police and fire departments, with the proprietary PRC/Digital Equipment Corporation system in operation for over 12 years. Hardware aging issues led to frequent outages lasting days due to difficulty in sourcing replacement parts. Geolocation limitations and a reliance on paper-based processes hindered efficient management, especially in Oxnard's expansive service area, highlighting the urgent need for mobile automation to improve response times.
Strategy and solution
Sciens first developed a Citywide IT Strategic Plan for Oxnard, encompassing all city departments, with a focus on the technologies supporting Public Safety systems. The plan included a thorough assessment of existing infrastructure against continuity of operations requirements, along with tracking user functional requirements and workflow analysis from call receipt to reporting. As a result of the Plan:
An RFP was crafted detailing user functionality requirements identified during interviews and workflow reviews, with vendor proposals evaluated and short-listed finalists invited to present demonstrations of their solutions.
Sciens participated in proposal evaluations, aided in contract negotiations, and reviewed each vendor's scope of work and initial implementation activities, including acceptance testing documents.
Additionally, Sciens developed the project implementation plan and assisted the City in managing the deployment of the integrated system.
The City of Oxnard deployed the new Public Safety system on-schedule and within budget. The upgraded technologies have reduced the overall dispatch times, and offered better access to critical information in the field to preserve officer safety. The open architecture of the new system allowed the City of Oxnard to develop a data sharing portal with Ventura County. Officers now have access to county crimes databases, which provides better situational awareness valuable to preserving officer safety.
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