Instead of hiring another employee, county commissioners on Wednesday OK’d the purchase of CommsCoach Quality Assurance for $14,875, lasting from July 1 to Dec. 31, and $27,750 for Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026. Altogether, the $42,625 for the next year and a half is less than what the county would pay for another employee.
Greg Beveridge, director of the Crawford County Department of Public Safety, explained that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency requires a minimum standard of quality assurance reviews for 911 calls and outbound radio traffic. Currently, it takes work from six 911 telecommunicators to complete the quality assurance process.
“It is a tedious, monotonous process but does have the ability to identify strengths and weaknesses,” Beveridge told The Meadville Tribune. “By transitioning to the AI-infused system, a higher percentage if not all of our inbound and outbound work may be reviewed without adding an additional load to any employee.”
The AI system will also provide more detailed statistical data than the center currently receives, enabling workers to address areas of improvement in a much more precise and actionable way.
CommsCoach also identifies unwanted behaviors to assure 911 callers receive the most professional and appropriate treatment possible.
The annual cost of the program is less than a new hire plus benefits would cost, and it allows current employees to focus more on dispatch systems and dispatch personnel.
Beveridge said he researched ways to streamline the 911 center’s processes and found CommsCoach to be the best option.
“I have looked at a couple AI platforms designed to do QA (quality assurance) and found that CommsCoach is one of the most elaborate and in-depth uses available and feel that the system will provide us with multiple benefits including reducing/eliminating dispatch personnel working on tasks outside of their primary focus, increasing the amount of calls/incidents reviewed and aggregating data in a highly useful and productive manner without incurring additional costs associated with adding another staff member,” he said.
The system was demonstrated to public safety officials as well as the county commissioners, who were equally as impressed.
At the commissioners’ work session last Wednesday, Chairman Eric Henry thanked Beveridge for his work on the project and said he thinks this will improve the ability of dispatchers.
Other dispatch centers under the Northern Tier Dispatch coalition agency are also considering the same platform for implementation, so this puts Crawford County ahead of the curve.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioner Scott Schell reminded residents to be careful in the heat as there has been an increase in medical emergency calls, causing first responders to brave the heat wave and put themselves in danger.
Commissioner Chris Seeley also mentioned that residents can go to public libraries in times of high temperatures to cool down.
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