Mission Critical Partners to Provide Consolidation Support for Montana State University and Gallatin County 911

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (September 14, 2018)—Mission Critical Partners (MCP), a leading consulting and lifecycle management services firm in the public safety field, today announced that they will partner with Montana State University and Gallatin County, MT, to decommission the university’s existing dispatch operations center and consolidate staff and operations into the Gallatin County 911 Communications Center to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

University dispatch or communications centers are often the “open window” on campus, typically operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, handling a wide variety of issues outside of traditional public safety duties like call handling and emergency response dispatching. At Montana State University, the dispatch operations center provides students with access to emergency services for incidents on campus and handles walk up traffic for non-emergency services including parking permits, fine payments and visitor badging, among other things.

“Universities present a unique set of challenges that most city or county 911 centers do not encounter on a regular basis,” said Kevin Murray, MCP chief executive officer and cofounder. “The challenge with a project like this one is transitioning campus 911 operations to an off-campus facility while still providing students with the access they need to the non-emergency services that are currently being provided by the on-campus dispatch operations center.”

MCP subject-matter experts will meet with University and County stakeholders to identify the needs of each group, develop a plan to meet those needs and then work with the groups to transition operations and staff from the Montana State University dispatch operations center to the Gallatin County 911 Communications Center. The consolidation plan will include:

• Detailed information on system integrations from computer-aided dispatch (CAD) to call-handling equipment (CHE), radio systems, geographic information systems (GIS), networking and databases.
• Operations considerations including call intake and dispatch processes, standard operating procedures, and database and records management.
• Personnel transition and benefits information such as salary, shift assignments, probationary periods and unions for those University staff who will consolidate to the Gallatin County 911 Communications Center.
• Outline of on-campus services, including welfare checks, nuisance calls, camera monitoring, lock outs and car issues, and identifying how these will be handled moving forward.

“Our goal is to seamlessly incorporate Montana State’s police dispatch operations into the Gallatin County 911 Communications Center,” said Frank Parrish, chief of police, Montana State University Police Department. “While this project is not without some challenges, namely determining how we will handle the non-emergency services that the dispatch center is currently responsible for, we believe that MCP’s experience supporting consolidations for other agencies across the country makes them the right partner to help guide us through this transition.”

Montana State University is located in Bozeman (Gallatin County), MT, and has an enrollment of nearly 17,000 students. While the on-campus dispatch communications center will be decommissioned, the University will retain its police force.

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About Mission Critical Partners (MCP)

Mission Critical Partners (MCP) is a professional services and co-managed and IT services firm that helps clients enhance and evolve their public safety systems and operations through our extensive experience, knowledge and resources. By providing insight and support every step of the way, our clients are able to transform their mission-critical operations, maximizing the value of their investments and ensuring optimal performance and success. Additional information and career opportunities are available at www.MissionCriticalPartners.com