Effectively manning an emergency contact center today requires quick-thinking employees who leverage all available resources to respond to diverse situations. Call center recording equipment must be able to capture all types of communication that operators may use to save lives and protect callers from harm.
An emergency dispatcher working the Johnston County (North Carolina) inbound phones recently used non-traditional communications tools to help save a woman who was trapped in the trunk of a car after being kidnapped. By texting with the dispatcher, she was able to provide details about where she was and the vehicle she was in without speaking so the conversation was overheard by her abductor.
The Johnston County 911 director, Jason Barbour, told news media he was glad the center had access to a cell phone and he “believes dispatch centers should be updated to provide a similar service from their systems.” Barbour said using technology to its fullest capacity services the public during the “greatest time of need.”
On-duty personnel in the 911 center in Johnston County used a cell phone that wasn’t directly tied into the dispatch system. While they may have access to the conversation transcription via the cell service provider, having multi-channel call center recording equipment in the center could save time, and improve information sharing security. Capturing voice, text and radio communications empowers contact center administrators to review conversations while responding to FOIA requests after certain events and to share data files with need-to-know response teams and other agencies. In a case like the one detailed above, operators have to relay essential information to law enforcement, first responders, the cell phone service providers and other people in route to the area. Instant retrieval and file encryption capability built into public-safety answering points (PSAPs) make it possible to share audio files with multiple agencies quickly and accurately, without compromising client privacy.
Every day in a 911 contact center brings new challenges and rewards. In a digitally driven world, having the ability to communicate with clients via VoIP technology, chat lines, texts and conventional telephones and radios is vital. Capturing those conversations provides myriad benefits from replaying voice calls to recreate past events to providing an accurate, legal archive copy for law enforcement preparing a case against a kidnapper.
How would your team have helped the woman trapped in the car? Could you have established contact with text capabilities from your main dashboard? Updating your call center recording equipment does not necessarily mean you have to retire legacy systems and invest in building a new network from the ground up. Many ATIS Digital unified communications modules and software solutions are compatible with existing data and telecom infrastructure, offering seamless integration and rapid deployment. We invite you to schedule a consultation today to discuss best-in-class call center recording equipment upgrades that will help you leverage technology to its fullest to better serve your community.
