Crimestar's Mobile Digital Communicator (MDC) allows the dispatcher to digitally dispatch units to a call.  When a unit is digitally dispatched their unit status changes to a "D" (DISPATCH) status and they are sent a digital dispatch message providing the basic details of the call.  This gets the officer responding, perhaps while the dispatcher attempts to collect additional information.  At any time the officer can click the Hyperlinked Event # on the digital dispatch screen to retrieve a full event record of the call.

For officer safety reasons it is generally not a good idea to dispatch units without voice communication.  Officers may be out of their car and away from the MDC.  Likewise, using a digital dispatch does not necessarily notify surrounding units as to what is going on, unless they happen to be viewing the Status Monitor page of the MDC Workstation.   On  the other hand, using a digital dispatch defeats the media and others who may be using a scanner to monitor call activity.  Sometimes the voice confirmation is nothing more than something like, "UNIT 1009 TO HANDLE EVENT 1".   Now everyone's attention is drawn to the fact that a particular unit is responding to handle a call without disclosing the exact details of the call and other field officers can utilize their MDC to get those call details if desired.  When and how you use digital dispatching will be a matter of your department policy.

Back to the: General MDC Description Page

 

Copyright © 1999-2021 Crimestar USA, LLC - All Rights Reserved