LIHUE, Hawaii – Aug. 17, 2016 – Kaua’i Police Department has purchased Spillman Technologies’ on-premises solution, Flex, as the agency’s new Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management (RMS), and mobile software system. The island police department is the third agency in the state to adopt a Spillman system, as Hawaiˋi County Police Department has also recently purchased Flex, and Brigham Young University-Hawaii Security has adopted Spillman’s cloud-based solution, Nova.
The police department serves the entire island of Kaua’i, a population of nearly 70,000, and also dispatches for several other agencies, including the fire department, EMS, and park rangers. The new Flex system will allow the agency to organize all of its data, such as name, vehicle, and incident records, into a single, fully integrated database. This centralized system will help to streamline searching and enable dispatchers to work more efficiently.
Police Officer Stacy Perreira explained that the complete integration built into Flex was one of the major factors in the agency’s decision to purchase the system.
“The ease of use and searches in Spillman were very impressive,” Perreira said. “Having everything right there for our dispatchers without having to go outside the product was super important because when you’re out on the street, time is of the essence. Seeing how the Spillman product worked at the dispatch level and how you’re able to just search across the board was huge for us.”
Flex’s single source database will also enable Kaua’i personnel to pull more accurate data for analytics and reporting purposes. Using the Spillman Analytics module, for example, personnel will be able to view accurate crime trends and traffic patterns on an interactive map. Perreira explained that because the agency’s previous software system was pulling data from three separate servers, it was difficult and time consuming to obtain accurate and complete statistics.
“With the Spillman Analytics module and the Spillman product in general, I believe citizens will have a better understanding of what’s happening within their community because of the product’s ability to produce accurate and timely statistics,” she said.
In addition to better analytics capabilities, Assistant Chief Rob Gausepohl explained that the stability of the software vendor was an important factor in Kaua’i Police Department’s decision to purchase a system from Spillman. The agency had previously struggled with a vendor that had been acquired by another company in the middle of their software implementation and did not want to risk repeating that experience.
“We liked that Spillman is privately held and had never been bought. It feels like a family company,” Gausepohl said. “The sincerity of the people we were interacting with was very, very important to us. We felt that we could develop a partnership with Spillman.”
Perreira went on to add that Kaua’i personnel are looking forward to using the new software and that the customer service and training provided by Spillman has been well received by each area of the department.
“The product is good, but if there is a problem, Spillman does everything they can to either make it work for us or find a solution that will work,” Perreira said. “Coming from a system that hasn’t worked well for our agency, it’s a huge change.
Spillman Technologies serves police departments, sheriff’s offices, communication centers, correctional facilities, fire departments, and security organizations nationwide. Spillman specializes in integrated on-premises and cloud software solutions, including Computer-Aided Dispatch, Records Management Systems, Mobile Data & Field Reporting, Mapping & GIS, Jail Management Systems, Fire, Data Sharing, Personnel & Resources, and Analytics & Intelligence-Led Policing. For more information about Spillman, visit www.spillman.com.
