News Release

Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Improves Emergency Response with Spok’s Critical Alerting Solution

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SPRINGFIELD, Va. (April 1, 2015) – Spok, Inc. today announced that the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office in Castle Rock, Colo., is using Spok®

critical alerting to improve emergency communications with first responders and other community employees. With the alerting solution, the county is able to quickly notify the dispatch center, patrol units, medical units, the jail, and courthouse staff of important information needed to respond and resolve critical situations.

“Timeliness is one of the most important elements of our notifications,” said Anne McNulty, applications specialist in the Sheriff’s Office. “For our people, time is critical. From the location of a fire to the details of a hostage situation, responders need information as soon as possible in order to respond quickly and appropriately to every situation.”

The Sheriff’s Office had been using an alerting solution that was more than 10 years old and was no longer supported by the vendor. McNulty and her team needed to identify and install a new solution before the existing solution failed during an emergency. They examined several options before selecting Spok’s critical alerting due to its robust, flexible design and ease of use.

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Sheriff’s Office staff members use Spok’s critical alerting solution in conjunction with the unit’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to deliver messages to a variety of communication devices carried by Sheriff’s Office personnel. Alerts are not only sent to first responders in Douglas County, but also to those responding to emergencies in neighboring counties.  Messages are sent via the solution’s web interface to immediately notify groups and individuals of anything from planned system maintenance to life safety incidents that require a fast, coordinated response from multiple units.  For example, a man recently barricaded himself in his home with his child, and Douglas County staff used the Spok solution to notify the SWAT team and provide continual updates until the situation was safely resolved.

“We depend on Spok critical alerting, and it’s being used very effectively by all county entities,” said McNulty. “We’ve had a great experience and continue to add new users. We absolutely recommend it to other agencies looking for a similar solution.”

McNulty added that besides the solution’s new capabilities, part of the positive experience was the ease of user implementation. “I have 15 years of application implementation experience, and this was one of the easiest projects I have ever installed,” McNulty said. “Spok’s responsiveness and attention to detail ensured the solution was tailored to our infrastructure and related needs.”