Grand Cayman: The Department of Public Safety Communications released its annual report for the period from July 2014 through June 2015. The document can be accessed on the department’s website at www.911.gov.ky .

The report says that the number of 9-1-1 telephone calls showed a dramatic increase of 20.5% over the prior year. According to the department, the increase can be blamed on abandoned or hang-up calls caused by persons sitting on their phone or letting it bang around in their purse, inadvertently calling 9-1-1.

Overall workload increased by about 6% as evidenced by the number of Calls For Service in which an RCIPS officer, ambulance or fire truck was dispatched or a police report generated.

Even though the number of 9-1-1 calls went up, the time it takes to answer and process those calls went down. Over 97% were answered within 10 seconds and the average time it took to dispatch an emergency call was about a minute and a half. Both the 9-1-1 answering time and dispatch time were well within the international standards that are established for emergency communications centres.

In the last year, the department’s Electronic Monitoring Centre monitored 94 clients who had been tagged with a GPS tracking device, per the instructions of the courts or police.

There were 370 requests from police for copies of video images from the National CCTV Programme. Assistant Director Julian Lewis said that police will search CCTV video after a crime occurs and if they find something significant for evidentiary or investigative purposes, then they request a copy of the video from the department. After 60 days, the video is automatically purged from the National CCTV Programme servers.

Assistant Director Leslie “Lennox” Vernon said that quality assurance reviews were initiated last year. There were 164 call reviews completed which measured the performance of staff members in processing Calls For Service in the Communications Centre. The average score was 88.9%.

The Electronic Monitoring Centre also conducted 120 case reviews with the goal of determining how well the EMC staff processed offender violation alerts. The average score reported was 92.2% according to the report.

During the period of FY14/15 (June 2014 to June 2015), the Department of Public Safety Communications provided mission critical services to its Internal Customers (primarily RCIPS and Emergency Medical Services and secondarily, the Fire Service) and its External Customers (the residents and visitors of all three Cayman Islands).

The Department has two key sections: the 9-1-1 Public Safety Communications Centre and the Electronic Monitoring Centre. The EMC is further broken down into two distinct programmes: Electronic Monitoring of Offenders and the National CCTV Programme.

The annual report can be found on the department’s website at www.911.gov.ky .

From annual report

CAYMAN ISLANDS GOVERNMENT MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS
FY 14/15 ANNUAL REPORT (JULY 2014 TO JUNE 2015)
INCLUDES QUARTERLY REPORT – Q4 (1 APRIL 2015 TO 30 JUNE 2015)

Executive Summary

During the period of FY14/15 (June 2014 to June 2015), the Department of Public Safety Communications continued to provide mission critical services to its Internal Customers (primarily RCIPS and Emergency Medical Services) and its External Customers (the residents and visitors of all three Cayman Islands).

The Department has two key sections: 1) Public Safety Communications Centre (PSCC – formerly known as “9-1-1”); and, 2) the Electronic Monitoring Centre (EMC). The EMC is further broken down into two distinct programmes: 1) Electronic Monitoring of Offenders; and 2) National CCTV Programme. The PSCC section accounts for approximately 75% of the personnel, dedicated office space and overall activity of the Department with the EMC accounting for approximately 25% of the resources.

FY14/15 Highlights

Workload in the Public Safety Communications Centre increased 5.8% over the previous fiscal year and the increase in 9-1-1 telephone calls was 20.5%.

In FY14/15, the workload in the Communications Centre as evidenced by the Computer Aided Dispatch statistics (including the “Report Only” Calls For Service generated by RCIPS directly into CAD) was 182% higher than FY11/12 — prior to absorbing the non-emergency dispatch function for RCIPS.

The Public Safety Communications Centre enjoyed a significant decrease in the call processing time which is defined as the period from when 9-1-1 emergency calls were answered until the time that they were dispatched to a police, fire or medical resource. For the first time, the average call processing time was within international standards.

The Electronic Monitoring Centre had 94 new intakes into the Electronic Monitoring of Offenders programme and provided over 50 statements and reports to RCIPS and the Department of Community Rehabilitation in regards to clients who were in substantial violation of court orders or EM programme conditions. Furthermore, the EMC processed 370 requests for copies of video images from the National CCTV Programme which has been or will be used as evidence in crimes and other police matters.

The Department continues to operate with a staffing compliment which is two persons less than what existed in FY11/12.

There were seven formal complaints from Customers (both internal and external) during FY14/15 compared to four received during FY13/14. However, only one of those complaints was found to be substantiated and led to an apology by the staff member to the affected person.

Quality Assurance reviews were initiated this fiscal year. There were 164 full call reviews in the Communications Centre averaging a score of 88.9% and 120 case reviews in the Electronic Monitoring Centre averaging 92.2%.

My thanks to the excellent staff who handled these thousands of transactions rapidly and with a high degree of professionalism. I also want to thank the Chief Officer and his staff at the Ministry of Home Affairs for the continued support that they provide.

–Brent E. Finster
Director of Public Safety Communications
24th July 2015

Public Safety Communications Centre (Output EMC1)
The Department operates a 24-hour Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to support public safety first responder services including Police, Fire and Emergency Medical Services known as the Public Safety Communications Centre (PSCC). In the last fiscal year, the PSCC was staffed with a compliment of 2 telecommunicators during non-peak hours (24/7) and 3 during peak hours (Friday and Saturday nights) and maintained a state of readiness during all 8,760 hours of the year to handle whatever may happen.

PSCC’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system processed 33,798 Calls For Service which includes 8,602 Calls For Service in Quarter 4. The annual figure equates to an increase of 5.3% over the FY13/14 when 31,949 were processed. There was an average of 2,817 Calls For Service processed each month.

In FY14/15, PSCC telecommunicators answered 95,092 telephone calls on the 9-1-1 emergency lines. This contrasts to 79,899 9-1-1 calls answered in FY13/14 which is an increase of 19%. The upward trend appears to come from an increase in the number of abandoned/hang-up calls also known as “butt calls” (unintentional misdials oftentimes associated with sitting on a cell phone or inadvertently dialing 9-1-1 while in a purse or backpack). Unfortunately, our existing 9-1-1 hardware leased from LIME cannot pass statistics on abandoned/hang-ups to our 9-1-1 software. The Department’s strategic plan discusses an upgrade to both hardware and software which will allow this statistical information to be made available. The Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) upgrade is a capital project and will need to receive adequate funding and support from Cabinet to move forward.

Although the number of 9-1-1 telephone calls has increased, the answering time by Communications Centre staff has remained excellent. The relevant standards to which the department strives to achieve are based on NENA 56-005 “Call Taking Standard Operational/Model Recommendation” and NFPA 1221 “Standard for the Installation, Maintenance, and Use of Emergency Services Communications Systems” which state that 90% of all 9-1-1 telephone calls should be answered within 10 seconds and 95% within 20 seconds (NENA) or 95% of all 9-1-1 telephone calls should be answered within 15 seconds and 99% should be answered within 40 seconds (NFPA). In FY14/15 the average call answering time was 5 seconds as it has been the last two years, despite the dramatic increase in the number of telephone calls. The percentage of 9-1-1 telephone calls answered within 10 seconds in FY14/15 was 97.4% and the percentage answered within 20 seconds was 99.8%.

The two Primary User Agencies of the PSCC are RCIPS and the Health Services Authority EMS Department (ambulance). In regards to the Fire Service, Calls For Service are processed similar to the Primary User Agencies, however information is passed to Fire Control who maintains the responsibility to assign specific pieces of fire equipment to the incident.

Calls For Service do not necessarily reflect the actual crime or situation which was found or reported by RCIPS, EMS or Fire Service. CFS are based on the available information obtained from the caller at the time the call was placed.

The generally accepted standard, NFPA 1221, specifies dispatch performance based on the time that it takes the Communications Centre to answer an emergency telephone call and dispatch it to the appropriate unit as a Call For Service. The NFPA 1221 standard was revised in 2013 and provides direction that 90% of EMS Calls For Service should be dispatched within 90 seconds and 99% should be dispatched within 120 seconds. NFPA 1221 states that 80% of Fire Service-related Calls For Service should be dispatched in 60 seconds and 95% should be dispatched within 106 seconds. There is no applicable standard for law enforcement, however, most public safety communications centres in North America use the NFPA/NENA fire and EMS standard for law enforcement Calls For Service, also.

DPSC uses the following priority level for Calls For Service:

 LEVEL P EMERGENCY RESPONSE – An incident posing an immediate threat to life where the threat is present and on-going; and/or an incident posing an immediate threat to life involving the actual use or threatened use of a weapon. The mere presence of a weapon alone, however, without any indication of use or threat of use does not support or justify a Level P call. (CPR, aircraft accidents, gunshot wounds/stabbings).

. LEVEL 1 CRITICAL RESPONSE – An incident involving a situation of imminent danger to life or a high potential for a threat to life to develop or escalate. This incident must be in progress or have just occurred. (most EMS calls, shots fired, robberies).

. LEVEL 2 URGENT RESPONSE – Crimes against persons or significant property crimes where a rapid response is needed and the incident is in progress, or has just occurred or is about to escalate to a more serious situation (fights, disturbances, domestics, panic/holdup alarms, fire alarms, some EMS calls).

.LEVEL 3 GENERAL RESPONSE – Other crimes or matters requiring police response, generally non- threatening (motor vehicle accidents with no injuries, civil disputes, burglary alarms).

.LEVEL 4 INFORMATION RESPONSE – Calls related to reports (cold thefts, burglaries).

. LEVEL 6 BEAT CALL RESPONSE – Calls that require a police response but are not time critical and are most suitably handled by a beat officer (loud music, abandoned vehicles, etc.)

.LEVEL 7 NON RESPONSE – For use with calls handled by police station front desk personnel (lost property, information).

 LEVEL 8 COMMUNICATIONS HANDLED – For use with calls handled by the Communications
Centre (individual staff member messages, etc.)

.LEVEL 9 TEST – Calls for test purposes only.

In FY14/15, the Communications Centre processed 27,939 law-enforcement related Calls For Service (including “Report Only” Calls For Service entered into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system by civilian personnel at the district police stations.)

Quality – A Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement process was implemented in March 2015 after developing forms and process using the recently-approved National Emergency Number Association ANSI standard titled “Establishment of a Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement Program for Public Safety Answering Points”. The Communications Centre’s QA process puts a high degree of importance on the provision of quality customer service.

The Assistant Director for Operations and Training and the Communications Supervisors performed a total of 169 full call reviews on Calls For Service during FY14/15. The Call-taking function (processing of the 9-1-1 emergency telephone call) resulted in an average score of 85.3% and the dispatch function via the radio averaged 92.7%. This averaged out to 88.9% for both aspects.

Quality – A Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement process was developed for the Electronic Monitoring Centre which assesses staff’s ability to handle EM violation alerts. The Assistant Director for Electronic Monitoring performed a total of 120 case reviews on Electronic Monitoring Officers’ activities. This assessment resulted in an average of 92.2%.

It should be noted that both the Communications Centre’s and Electronic Monitoring Centre’s QA processes put a high degree of importance on the provision of quality customer service.

National CCTV Programme –

The National CCTV Programme has the following assets in place at the end of FY14/15 including Phase
1.7.2 at Fairbanks which is functionally complete at the end of the fiscal year:

o 87 Camera Locations
o 251 Cameras
o 147 Fixed
o 82 Pan-Tilt-Zoom
o 22 ANPR

Phase 1.6.1 is being installed which includes the re-positioning of cameras as well as additional cameras in the Esterley Tibbetts Highway Extension. Phase 1.7.1 has been contracted to install cameras along the perimeter fence of Her Majesty’s Prison Northward. Phase 1.7.1 design has been installed which provides CCTV coverage of the Fairbanks Complex (including the women’s prison, Immigration Detention Centre, and the new RCIPS custody suites).

During FY14/15, the Department received 370 requests for video images or ANPR Reports from RCIPS. Many of these requests have led to convictions. The department is working with RCIPS and the Ministry of Home Affairs on a plan to proactively provide information to the public on the successes of the National CCTV Programme.

Department Staffing

Total Staffing Compliment is 24 (22 currently budgeted). At the end of the fiscal year, there were 11 staff members out of 22 that were Caymanians (50%). This contrasts with 2008, when there were only 4
Caymanian staff members (24%).

Public Safety Communications Centre
o 1 Asst. Director for Operations and Training
o 4 Communications Supervisors
o 12 Telecommunicators
o 1 Telecommunicator resigned
o 1 Telecommunicator was hired (Caymanian)
o At end of FY14/15 there were 2 vacancies – hiring in process with target of
August 2015
o 2 Telecommunicator posts were eliminated in FY12/13 budget (1 EM Officer post was subsequently converted to Telecommunicator)

Electronic Monitoring Centre
o1 Asst. Director for Electronic Monitoring
o4 Electronic Monitoring Officers
o 1 EM Officer was hired (Caymanian)

Administrative
. 1 Public Safety CAD/RMS Systems Administrator
o Hired 1 July 2014
. 1 Director of Public Safety Communications

Department Training and Official Travel

In FY14/15, the following training was completed and conferences attended in support of the
Department’s Succession Plan:

SunGard Public Safety and Justice Conference (Greensboro, North Carolina – August 2014)
. Public Safety CAD/RMS Systems Administrator

Association of Public Safety Communications Officials International-APCO (New Orleans – August 2014)
. Director of Public Safety Communications (costs shared with APCO)
. Asst. Director for Electronic Monitoring
. Public Safety CAD/RMS Systems Administrator

SunGard Users Group (Atlanta, Georgia – May 2015)
. Public Safety CAD/RMS Systems Administrator

National Emergency Number Association-NENA (Denver, Colorado – June 2015)
 Asst. Director for Electronic Monitoring
. Public Safety CAD/RMS Systems Administrator

NENA Center Manager Certification Program – CMCP (Denver, Colorado – June 2015
. Asst. Director for Electronic Monitoring

Tavcom CCTV Certification Course
. Asst. Director for Electronic Monitoring

British Red Cross CPR/First Aid Instructor’s Course
. 1 Communications Supervisor

In addition, one Telecommunicator with instructor certification provided APCO Fire Service Communications training to about a dozen new Fire Service Officers.

Project Status

SunGard Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)
. Complete and functional since February 2011
 Upgrade to “One Solution CAD” has been requested from SunGard
o Pending workstation hardware upgrade (estimated August 2015)

SunGard Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) & Mobile Data Computer (MDC)
oCurrent Installations
oRCIPS – 67 vehicles
o Health Services Authority EMS – 3 ambulances
o Her Majesty’s Prison Service – 2 transport vehicles
o Department of Immigration Enforcement – 2 vehicles
oInstallations scheduled
o Fire Service – 10 vehicles
o Health Services Authority EMS – 5 ambulances
o DPSC – 1 communications support vehicle
 Research into tablet technology in addition to or in lieu of laptop computers in RCIPS vehicles is being undertaken to determine the best way forward

SunGard Database Query
o Scope of Work approved by all stakeholders and finalised
o Target implementation is 4th quarter calendar year 2015

National CCTV Programme
o Phase 1, 1.1 and 1.2 complete
o Phase 1.7.1 (Esterley Tibbetts Highway Extension) installation in progress (estimated September
2015)
o Phase 1.7.2 (Northward Prison) installation in progress (estimated August 2015)
o Phase 1.7.3 nearing completion (estimated July 2015)

DPSC Initiatives Status

Strategic Plan – The Department of Public Safety Communications’ Strategic Plan was last revised in December 2012. It was reviewed in April 2013 at an off-site retreat with DPSC management. The Plan will be revised by the end of calendar year 2015.

Succession Plan – The Department of Public Safety Communications’ Succession Plan was last revised in March 2015. Training priorities are continually updated and form the basis for the use of Official Travel and Training budgets as outlined above. The Succession Plan will be revised by the end of calendar year
2015.

Public Education/Awareness/Social Media – The department is working with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Premier’s Press Secretary and RCIPS on rolling out a comprehensive ongoing public education campaign which will include near real-time Public Service Announcements using Twitter and Facebook.

Budget

The Department of Public Safety Communications operational budget was similar to the last two years in terms of financial resources. Overall, expenditures came in under budget but a great deal of savings was due, again, to the difficulty in quickly hiring replacements for vacated posts.

There were no new capital projects in FY14/15, however the department maintained financial and high level project oversight on behalf of the Ministry of Home Affairs on the continued deployment of SunGard software modules for DPSC, RCIPS, Her Majesty’s Prison Service, and the Department of Immigration.