Positron gives The Charleston County Sheriff's Office, The Power to Respond™
Atlanta, Georgia, November 17, 2005

Charleston County is America's most beautifully preserved architectural and historic treasure, with a rich heritage going back more than 300 years. Since its birth in the 1600's, it has played an important role in the course of American history. A testament to the spirit and tenacity of its citizens, through occupation, economic hardship, fires, earthquakes and hurricanes, Charleston has exhibited a remarkable resilience.

Charleston County itself covers 919 square miles including some of the nations most valued marshes, rivers and wetlands and is home to a variety of protected species. The county also has a nearly-100 mile stretch along the Atlantic coast.

As a desirable tourist location, Charleston County needed their Sheriff's Office PSAP to be a world-class dispatch. Several years had gone by since their previous upgrade. “We had our 9-1-1 and administrative lines scattered across our desks,” says Joyce Hitchcock of the Charleston County Sheriff's Office. ”It was really cumbersome.”

In 2003, the SO decided to upgrade their systems to be able to deal with changing technologies and a thriving tourism industry. “I've been to trade shows and seen products from different companies,” said Ms Hitchcock. “I like Positron's products better. Positron makes it easier to get the information you need from the systems. That's why we chose them.”

In February 2005, the Sheriff's Office went live with Positron's flagship product, Power 911 as well as Power MAP, the market's premier incident mapping application. “Now, we can locate incidents reported by cell phone,” said Allison Ford, Communications Manager. More than 140,000 incidents have been dispatched this year alone and about 50% of calls are from wireless phones.

“We love having mapping on our screens. Now we can get officers to locations much quicker than before,” added Ms. Hitchcock. “And best of all, the upgrade went off without a hitch. It was completed in less than a week.”

Power MAP is a dedicated public safety map viewer providing automatic display and management of calls, incidents, responses and resources. Available to any PSAP regardless of 9-1-1 solution, Power MAP's blend of sophisticated engineering and simplified operation allows agency personnel to locate callers and direct emergency responses quickly and accurately. When integrated with Positron's Power 911 IWS, Power MAP can also provide call control directly from the mapping application itself.

In summing up her feelings, Ms. Hitchcock said “I like the people. I like the products. The service is excellent.”

Positron is proud to have the Charleston County Sheriff's Office in the family.