INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The city’s Public Safety Board agreed in a unanimous vote late Friday to extend the deadline for a new citywide dispatch system until the end of the year, despite promises from an outside vendor that the system would be finished six months ago.
The 3-0 vote came in an emergency meeting at 4:30 p.m. Friday without two of the board members present. It approves a conditional amendment to the current contract with InterAct Public Safety Systems, an outside vendor hired by the city in 2012 to create a new records management system (RMS) used to create police, fire and EMS reports and maintain records of calls for service.
The agreement also included the creation of a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) system used to dispatch police, fire and EMS crews in the most efficient manner possible, providing faster response times in emergencies.
The original contract, negotiated by the administration of former Public Safety Director Frank Straub and signed in September 2012, agreed to pay InterAct $12.7 million for the work, which was to be completed within “12-24 months.” Thirty months later, it remains unfinished.
