Emergency Response at Obama Inauguration

Personnel of the Office of Unified Communications (OUC) in Washington (DC, USA) relied on Intergraph's public safety technologies to successfully process the record influx of 9-1-1 calls associated with the inauguration of United States President Barack Obama.

A long-time Intergraph customer, the OUC is responsible for dispatch of the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as Fire and Emergency Medical Services (FEMS) and public services within Washington (DC, USA). The OUC dispatched from both their new state-of-the-art Unified Communications Center (UCC) and redundant back-up facility, the Public Safety Communications Center (PSCC), during the inaugural celebration. Tactically, this allowed for District Public Safety Operations to manage the large volumes of incoming calls to both 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 (the number for city services and information).

On the day of the inauguration, Intergraph's computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system enabled operators to field calls, create and update incidents and manage emergency response resources. Intergraph's mobile dispatch technologies extended incident management capabilities to remote field and mobile units stationed near the special event area and provided responders in the field with access to the same information that operators at the UCC and PSCC relied on for efficient response. Additionally, the CAD map used in the remote and mobile applications provided routing to emergency vehicles, which assisted with event related street closures.

As part of the preparation for the inauguration and related activities, personnel used Intergraph's CAD map to create a special "event zone" around the plaza, parade route and other designated event areas. When 9-1-1 calls came from inside this zone, they were routed to the proper remote dispatch event area where they were immediately handled by dispatchers associated with the special event zone. This reduced response time as dispatchers were able to swiftly deploy mobile personnel on foot and bike.

More than 300 personnel, including call takers and IT professionals, staffed the UCC and PSCC on Inauguration Day to manage the high volume of calls and ensure all systems and databases were optimized. The volume of calls to 9-1-1 increased by 50 percent over an average day, with nearly 6,000 calls for assistance. Of these calls, 96 percent were answered within five seconds. The average 3-1-1 call was answered within 30 seconds, meeting the target response rate for information and city services queries.