APCO International Booth #701
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ORLANDO, FLORIDA, August 6, 2006 - The call center for the village of Winnetka, Illinois, keeps busy all year round. But, until only a few months ago, they kept themselves busier than was really necessary employing somewhat antiquated equipment to handle the bulk of the Department's call logging responsibilities. This meant keeping outdated hardware and software around to ensure that no calls were missed and that no critical information was lost. Yet, since updating to the Eventide VR725 digital call logger at the end of 2005, the Department has been reaping the rewards of fast, efficient call logging.
Located approximately 25 miles north of Chicago, the village of Winnetka is home to more than 14,000 citizens. To provide adequate service to the village population the Winnetka Police Department enlists the services of 29 sworn officers and seven dispatchers. These seven dispatchers have the responsibility of fielding between 10,000 and 12,000 incident calls each year that vary between 911 calls, administrative calls, and radio dispatches. The Department also participates in a number of mutual aid networks to support the village's other utilities and public services.
After employing a digital tape logger for more than seven years, the Department decided in late 2005 to upgrade to an Eventide VR725 digital voice logger. "To operate our previous call logger computer interface, we had to keep around an outdated, legacy computer just to connect to the logger," said Sergeant Rich Carlson, Winnetka Police Department. "After some time, it became all but impossible to operate the system effectively."
The Department then decided on an Eventide VR725 and is currently using nine channels of digital record channels to record all the Department's incoming voice calls. Department policy states that voice calls must be kept for up to 30 days. Yet, with the VR725's dual hot-swappable 250GB hard disks, the Department has gone six months now without having to begin archiving to external media formats. If there is ever an exceptional incident, the Department can use the VR725 to move data to DVDs for permanent archiving.
Sergeant Carlson continued, "If there are ever specific incidents that we want to archive, I can review an individual call, or a group of calls as a timeline, single out the incident and save it as a .WAV file. It is actually very easy to do. It is also a very easy program for our dispatchers to use, as the instant call check feature allows them to go back and replay a call that was just completed in case they missed any important information. Overall, the VR725 runs very smoothly. I can simply sit down in front of the computer, enter my password, search via any number of different search criteria and then play back the call I'm looking for. It doesn't get much better than that!"
Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Little Ferry, NJ, Eventide developed the first digital voice logger in 1989. Eventide's latest, the Linux-based VR615, VR725, and VR778, its fourth-generation digital voice logger product line, features expanded connectivity, accessibility and density. The VR series loggers are fully usable as a standalone logger, and function as a network server for Windows 2000 or XP workstations. Visit Eventide on the Web at www.eventide.com.
Eventide is a registered trademark of Eventide Inc.