City of Oakland Strengthens Police, Fire and EMS Dispatch with Motorola Solutions

Oakland’s new CAD system also enables its public safety agencies and neighboring jurisdictions to orchestrate a coordinated response to large-scale emergencies.

Motorola Solutions announced that the city of Oakland, California has modernized its emergency response with PremierOne® computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software. Oakland’s 9-1-1 dispatchers are using the new technology to quickly assign police, fire and EMS to calls for service and manage resources as incidents evolve. Within minutes of cutting over to the new CAD system, Oakland’s public safety leaders witnessed the technology’s speed and effectiveness as dispatchers and first responders worked together to successfully address a three-alarm fire in the city’s Rockridge neighborhood.

“Upon arrival, there was heavy smoke and flames coming from a bookstore,” said Damon Covington, Chief of Fire for the city of Oakland, noting that, with the agency’s quick response, only one person experienced minor injuries, while five people were displaced. “Our fire department has a rich 155-year history of protecting people and property in Oakland, and as the number of 9-1-1 calls for service climbs, our firefighters and EMS deserve the best tools possible to help with a timely, well-informed response. Our new 9-1-1 dispatch system is a significant step forward and efficiently connects all corners of our department to Oaklanders requiring emergency services.”  

PremierOne CAD software is highly configurable and can make critical incident details - like 9-1-1 call summaries, hazard information and building plans - available to first responders en route so they arrive at a scene better informed to act quickly. Oakland’s new CAD system also enables its public safety agencies and neighboring jurisdictions to orchestrate a coordinated response to large-scale emergencies like highway pileups, multi-alarm fires or natural disasters with the ability to communicate and share incident data across systems. 

“The launch of our new PremierOne CAD system from Motorola Solutions provides our Communications Division with a state-of-the-art platform for 9-1-1 dispatch,” said Floyd Mitchell, Chief of Police for the city of Oakland. “PremierOne CAD provides an enhanced user interface that supports our dispatchers in their daily tasks and seamlessly integrates with other information systems to support a more coordinated and effective response.”

“If you’ve ever witnessed a fire in your neighborhood or a medical emergency, you understand that the situation can evolve very quickly,” said Jeremiah Nelson, corporate vice president of emergency response, reporting and evidence technologies at Motorola Solutions. "No one ever wants to call 9-1-1, but when they do, they expect an immediate, informed response. We design our CAD technology so that dispatchers and first responders can act more quickly and with better intelligence to support people in their times of need."

Motorola Solutions’ CAD technologies, including PremierOne, Flex and CommandCentral CAD, are trusted by agencies around the globe for emergency incident and resource management.