The Benefits Of GPS Dispatching?

[x635 4,066]

I feel GPS is a great tool to dispatch the closest available and capable unit to a scene.

GPS should be THE gold standard in dispatching, and all agencies and systems should use it to some extent. District lines and stations should be a thing of the past.....it should go by who is closer, who is available, and who is capable in this county as tracked by GPS positioning. In addition, all ambulances should have duty crews. If you are unable to staff the ambulance for that shift, the ambulance logs out of service and the next closest unit gets sent automatically. Enough of borders, egos, and this and that. I understand that everybody has districts they are required to cover, but at what point are the district lines actually doing residents a disservice???

Also, instead of Chief's requesting spefic alarm assigments, Chiefs should request a 2nd alarm (with SC for water source or whatever) and get whoever is the closest, capable, and availabe unit as determined by GPS and not who invited who to what.

Overall, GPS, coupled with an MDT and CAD, is a great tool for real-time dispatching and tracking apparatus, and I think its use in this county will improve service and response times to all citizens.

[Guest NYTruckie]

What vehicles in westchester county have GPS and can 60 track them? I think that money (tax districts) should also be included into the reasons why some districts don't want to give areas up.

[JBE 328]

It can work both ways. GPS affords you the opportunity to properly track your units, and dispatch nearest available,but it can be a nightmare at other times. How do you track your units when the GPS is down?? What if there are dead zones where you can't find units?? What if units have "disabled" GPS transmitters??

[x635 4,066]

There's what if's to everything. But the "what if"s that currently stall so many progressive ideas in this county were turned into "How can we"'s, who knows how much better this county would be???

Backup (As per SSM protocol) dispatch units by street distance from last known confirmed location or stated location.

Dead zones are an issue, but a very minor and temporary one in heavily wooded areas.

"Disabled" GPS transmitters is an issue. But proper installation and supervision should negate that.

As far as taxes go, yes thats an isssue. But there's an ethical issue to that end as well.

[JBE 328]

Not to knock the idea, because I am a proponent of it. I think it would work better with EMS units as opposed to fire trucks. I say that in the sense of the closest available unit. Say you have LCFD 17-7-1 coming out of PHC, and CVAC gets banged out for a seizure at Putnam Plaza, 17-7-1 is physically closer and can get there faster because they are crewed, where as CVAC may have to wait for a crew to staff the bus.

There's another concern. Manpower. Let's face it, it's an issue that is a strong concern for many departments, so instead of spending the money for GPS, maybe recruitment/retention efforts would be more in order.

[MGMedic 0]

Don't know if this is the way the Dept. is going, but FDNY-EMS has already installed GPS on a few ambulances. Not using it to dispatch, just looking at how well it works in the city.