Director's Report - December 2016

Telephone Calls - 21,496
Fire Incidents - 944
EMS Incidents - 3,566
Police Incidents - 27,741

Voice Radio Project:
-Harris has completed all technical items related to the project.  A contractual discrepancy was discovered with the Valley Forge tower and must be resolved prior to Final System Acceptance.  FSA is expected by the end of January.
-We are working with AT&T to resolve a tower space issue before moving forward with the Wayne enhancement site. We are reviewing Harris' proposed design and cost for West Chester Borough Police.
-We are 46 months (99%) into the 47 month Implementation Phase.  About 99% of the project implementation schedule has been completed.  So far we have spent $37,987,680 (84%) of the $45,000,000 total project budget.

CAD System:
-Reassessment for Fire and EMS, and Police Mobile for Public Safety (MPS) has been completed. Reassessment for CAD has been completed.  Beta Testers for Police MPS have reported no issues.
-The JNET interface was brought online.
-An updated map was rolled out to all users.  AVL recommendations have been switched back to drive time.  At the recommendation of the EMS Council, an additional three minutes is being added to Cecil and New Castle County EMS units to account for the inherent delay in dispatching out-of-county units.  Additional data is being gathered for the EMS Council to make a recommendation on additional, if any, delays for Delaware County.

Public Safety Training Campus:
-Last month we hosted 1,441 people at 75 events in the Academic Building.  Last month we hosted 22 training sessions in the Tactical Village for a YTD total of 314.
-Inclement weather has slowed progress after several good weeks of construction on the Law Enforcement Firing Range.

Director's Report for November, 2016

Telephone calls - 22,169
Fire Incidents - 941
EMS Incidents - 3,312
Police Incidents -29,356

Voice Radio Project:
-Harris working on clean-up items related to radio programming and install work.  Second touch programming has begun.  Speaker Microphone replacements will coincide with second touch programming.  GPS and standard microphones are being replaced, regardless of whether County or agency-owned.  Firefighter microphones (yellow) are not being replaced.

-We are working with AT&T to resolve a tower space issue before moving forward with the Wayne enhancement site.  Harris is working on a preliminary design and cost for West Chester Borough Police.

-We are 45 months (98%) into the 46 month Implementation Phase.  About 99% of the project implementation schedule has been completed.  So far we have spent $37,906,199 (84%) of the $45,000,000 total project budget.

New CAD:
-MPS reassessment workshops have been completed.  Integraph and DES are working with responder representatives on testing the requested changes.  An estimate of effort is being developed for additional changes that have been requested, but not completed, by Intergraph.

-Now that all of the premise data has been entered into the Special Address database, DES is prepping to roll out an updated CAD and MPS map.  This map roll will allow AVL recommendations to switch from straight-line to routable distance.  This will also provide for better out of county unit recommendations by AVL.

-DES is working on new response plans to provide a better second due territory for areas with split territory such as 55/187; 93/193; 94/194, etc.

Public Safety Training Campus:
-Last month we hosted 1.903 people at 74 events in the Academic Building.  Last month we hosted 46 training sessions in the Tactical Village for a YTD total of 292.  A new sign was installed along Modena Road marking the Public Safety Training Campus.

-The foundation wall is well underway for the firing range.  The secondary parking lot is expected to be completed by the end of December.

Director's Monthly Report - October, 2016

Telephone Calls - 23,310
Fire Incidents - 860
EMS Incidents - 3,471
Police Incidents - 30,816


Note:  The average police dispatch time, 1 minute and 5 seconds, has been significantly reduced because of the speed in which incidents are displayed to Mobile Data Computers before a unit is assigned.


Voice Radio Project:
-Harris is working on clean-up items related to radio programming and install work.  Second touch programming has begun.  Speaker Microphone replacements will coincide with second touch programming.  Final System Acceptance is expected by the end of the year.


-We are working with AT&T to resolve a tower space issue before moving forward with the Wayne enhancement site.  Harris is working on a preliminary design and cost for West Chester Borough Police.


-We are 44 months (96%) into the 46 month Implementation Phase.  About 99% of the project implementation schedule has been completed.  So far we have spent $37,575,778 (84%) of the $45,000,000 total project budget.


New CADs:
-Reassessment for Fire and EMS Mobile for Public Safety (MPS) has been completed.
-Police MPS reassessment will take place in November.  CADs reassessment will take place in December.
-Challenges with new equipment have slowed the County's Department of Computing and Information Services (DCIS) in implementing redundant internet connectivity for the MPS servers to improve reliability.


Public Safety Training Campus:
-Last month we hosted 3,548 people at 136 events in the Academic Building; and we hosted 66 training sessions in the Tactical Village for a YTD total of 246.
-Basic electrical work and land clearing activities have begun for the Law Enforcement Firing Range.


SE PA Regional Task Force:
-We took delivery of three power packs to provide emergency portable battery power at extended incidents.  One is deployed to the IST, one to Comm1, and one is available for deployment upon request.

Director's Monthly Report - September 2016

Telephone Calls - 23,522
Fire Incidents - 915
EMS Incidents - 3,275
Police Incidents - 30,959

Voice Radio Project:
-Harris is working on clean-up items related to radio programming and install work.  Second touch programming is expected to resume the end of October.  Final System Acceptance is expected by the end of the year.  We are working with Harris to finalize the deployment plan for the new Fire/EMS speaker microphones.

-We are working with AT&T to resolve a tower space issue before moving forward with the Wayne enhancement site.  Harris is working on a preliminary design and cost for West Chester Borough Police.

-We are 43 months (94%) into the 46 month Implementation Plan.  About 99% of the project implementation schedule has been completed.  So far we have spent $37,420,402 (87%) of the $45,000,000 total project budget.

New CAD System:
-The CAD system 30-day reliability test was completed with no issues.

-Reassessment for Fire and EMS will take place in October and Police in November.  Working with different organizations we have a comprehensive list of items to examine.

Public Safety Training Campus:
-Last month we hosted 3,239 people at 137 events in the Academic Building.  Last month we hosted 39 training sessions in the Tactical Village for a YTD total of 180.

-All building permits have been issued for the Law Enforcement Firing Range.  The General Contractor plans to begin earth movement activities the first week of October.

SE PA Regional Task Force:
The Chester County Detectives Office received a new mobile forensics vehicle to assist in processing crime scenes.

Reflections on September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001 I was working as an EMT at Minquas Fire Company No. 2 in Downingtown.  I remember I was in the process of washing an ambulance when my partner came out of the back room and commented a plane had hit the World Trade Center.  Being a New Yorker, I thought well that's unfortunate – thinking it was simply a small commuter plane that got lost in the clouds.  I turned the news on and continued washing the ambulance and then the second plane hit and more planes were missing.  I, like many of you, will never forget this day.  I, like many of you, will never forget the ultimate sacrifice brave Americans made that day. I, like many of you, will never forget the ultimate sacrifice so many of our brave Americans and allies have made every day since September 11, 2001…and continue to make.

I took a moment today to pause and reflect on a number of thoughts and emotions. One of them, from a professional perspective, is what we’ve managed to accomplish in the past 15 years.  I look at the almost $26M in federal homeland security grant funding Chester County has either directly or indirectly benefited from and I ask myself what have we accomplished?  Have we made a difference?  Are we any better prepared?  The overwhelming answer is: Yes. We’ve accomplished a lot. We’ve made and continue to make a difference. We are better prepared.

For one, our relationships with our partners – both within the county borders and out – are much stronger.  Our region played host to two major events thrusting Philadelphia and our region into the spotlight for flawless execution. We were deeply involved in the planning for these events, we had unparalleled information and intelligence exchange, and supported the City in ways we would have never imagined.

I think our emergency responders and the emergency response system is significantly stronger. We have been able to augment our staff within the Chester County Department of Emergency Services to provide the service the emergency responders and citizens deserve and expect. To that point, Chester County became the first local jurisdiction in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to achieve full Emergency Management Accreditation status from the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), no small feat. The City of Philadelphia is the only other local jurisdiction to achieve the same status.

Our emergency responders have critical tools and critical teams at their disposal. The Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) project has helped identify stolen vehicles, lost Alzheimer patients, Amber alert-wanted vehicles, and wanted subjects.  These readers, installed on police cars throughout the southeast Pennsylvania region, scan more than 25,000,000 license plates a year. And specialty teams such as the Chester County Rescue Task Force have significantly enhanced our capabilities in-county and throughout the region.

Thanks to the support of the Chester County Board of Commissioners, we have a state-of-the-art Public Safety Training Facility. The final phase, the indoor Law Enforcement Firing Range, has officially kicked off and work has begun. We now host more than 20,000 emergency responders and community members a year at the Campus.

Our communications capabilities – for emergency responders and the public – have significantly improved. We have just migrated to a new, state-of-the-art Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) System, Mobile Data System, and Mobile for Public Safety (MPS) System all of which are giant leaps forward in technology and, more importantly, responder safety. We have a new, state-of- the-art radio system providing 99.8% portable, on-street radio coverage.  We are implementing unparalleled levels of interoperability – to the point that once fully implemented a police officer will be able to pursue a criminal across county boundaries and never lose communication with fellow officers or their dispatcher and never having to touch their radio.

The public has benefited through a new public notification system – Ready Chesco – providing timely, accurate, location-specific warnings and advisories. We also now have the ability of altering the public using the Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) and Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) – pushing life-saving alerts to roadside signs, billboards, and cell phones.

And, finally, we have seen significant benefit from the investments made in the name of “homeland security” from an all-hazards perspective.  Many of the relationships, training, and equipment obtained were utilized in the February 2014 ice storm. Everything from Traffic Sign Boards obtained for fire police, to shelters and mass care for humans and animals, to the countless volunteers and teams staffing support structures.

With that, thank you to the emergency responders, the military, and their families; thank you to our elected officials; and, thank you to our citizens for all you do every single day. Your sacrifices are not forgotten and do not go unnoticed.

Robert J. Kagel Director

September 11, 2016