[December 10, 2014]

Lavallette Police Department Chooses Spok to Enable Effective 9-1-1 Community Response

The beach community of Lavallette, N.J. has selected Spok's 9-1-1 call center solution for its new police headquarters. The police department picked Spok to provide the foundation for its 9-1-1 community response because of its scalability, the ability to use off-the-shelf equipment, and rave reviews from other users, said Lavallette Police Chief Colin M. Grant.

"Our headquarters was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy, and we've been operating out of three trailers," Grant explained. "When we started considering a PSAP (public safety answering point) for our new building, we decided to go in a different direction from our previous vendor. The Spok® pc/psap solution gives us exactly what we were looking for today - and in the future."

Grant said he likes the scalability of the Spok pc/psap system to handle the current call volume as well as potential increased call loads in case other local jurisdictions contract with Lavallette to handle their calls. The ability to use readily available commercial equipment means that the town is not limited to one hardware vendor, another important consideration.

But the deciding factor for Grant and other town officials was the enthusiastic reviews disatchers from another town gave Spok pc/psap. "Our technology consultant put us in touch with the Stafford Township Police Department, which uses Spok," Grant said. "We brought some of our dispatchers down to talk to their dispatchers, and they really raved about the system, how well it works, and how easy it is to use. Dispatcher to dispatcher - that's really what sold us."

When someone dials 9-1-1 for emergency assistance, the call goes to a dispatch center for response. With Spok pc/psap's easy-to-use graphical interface, emergency dispatchers are able to involve police, fire, EMT, and hazmat personnel instantly with a click of the mouse or a touch of the screen, saving precious time in emergency situations.

Spok pc/psap is used by military bases, local governments, hospitals, colleges, and universities because of its track record and the software's ability to integrate smoothly with existing systems such as phone and mapping. The system integrates with existing PBX (News - Alert) or CENTREX telephone systems and third-party systems for CAD, mapping, and network time sources. Spok pc/psap has received Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) certification and is listed under the Department of Defense's Unified Capabilities Approved Products List.

The Lavallette Police Department has 13 sworn members and three full-time dispatchers to serve the emergency needs of the 2,700 year-round residents, a number that swells to 22,000 during the busy summer months. During the summer, the department hires an additional 19 special officers and often has a second dispatcher on standby during special events such as Fourth of July festivities. The department fields 5,000 emergency calls annually but received nearly 8,000 in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy slammed the Northeastern United States.

"I'm not a technology guy, but the Spok sales staff explained the solution, provided consistent follow-up, and answered my questions about integration," Grant said. "They made the whole process very easy for us."

About Spok
Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Springfield, Va., is proud to be a leader in critical communications for healthcare, government, public safety, and other industries. We deliver smart, reliable solutions to help protect the health, well-being, and safety of people around the globe. More than 125,000 organizations worldwide rely on Spok for workflow improvement, secure texting, paging services, contact center optimization, and public safety response. When communications matter, Spok delivers. Visit us at spok.com or find us on Twitter (News - Alert) @Spoktweets.

Spok is a trademark of Spok Holdings.

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