Motorola Solutions application pushes CAD information to first responders in field

Motorola Solutions yesterday announced SmartIncident, a new application that leverages broadband connectivity in an APX NEXT or APX N70 portable radio to receive multimedia incident information from computer-aided dispatch (CAD) to inform efficient responses by personnel in the field.

Michael Labowicz, director of product management for Motorola Solutions, said SmartIncident was developed to address an information gap cited by customers providing feedback to the company.

“What came up pretty consistently when we were talking to customers was the disconnect between the field users and what’s going on in dispatch,” Labowicz said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

“Many officers have CAD clients and other ways of getting CAD information when they are in their vehicle with an MDT [mobile data terminal], and they can use voice in dedicated talk groups to get that information, but when they’re out on the scene, out of the vehicle—or if they are on horseback or on foot patrol—there was a need to get that information.

Motorola Solutions’ APX portable radios include a touchscreen, built-in intelligence and the broadband-connectivity capabilities necessary to support a variety of multimedia—messages, images, videos and audio clips—that can convey dispatch information to personnel in the field, according to Labowicz.

“It brings a lot of that information right to the field user at the edge [of the network], right when they need it,” he said. “Obviously, it has a lot of benefits. It brings the information right up to the forefront on the radio. If you want to access the incident ID, the name, the address, or some important details about that incident—for instance, what’s the gate code to get into gated community or whether there are any hazards that I should be worried about, like a dog—[it can be delivered via SmartIncident].

“So, there’s a lot of information that we’re pulling from the CAD and bringing to the radio, to make it available to officer end users.”

SmartIncident is being launched as an integrated solution with Motorola Solutions’ Premier One CAD offerings, Labowicz said.

Scott Mottonen, Motorola Solutions’ senior vice president for critical-communications solutions, noted that SmartIncident functionality not only can help personnel in the field, but it also can reduce radio traffic and dispatchers’ efforts by eliminating the need for many verbal messages to be repeated.

“We asked ourselves, ‘How much time could be saved if a first responder didn’t need to ask a dispatcher to repeat their transmission or go back to their car to check an incident detail? What if the information they needed to be successful at the scene was automatically surfaced on the smart radio they’re already carrying?’” Mottonen said in a prepared statement.

“With SmartIncident, we are transforming how dispatchers and first responders communicate with one another on their radios, freeing radio channels for verbal updates that are truly mission-critical.”

Jim Wolfinbarger, director of Motorola Solutions’ public-safety industry team and former chief of the Colorado State Patrol, echoed this sentiment.

“From the routine to emergency moments, a first responder always carries their radio to stay connected,” Wolfinbarger said in a prepared statement. “SmartIncident takes essential incident information and makes it portable on their most trusted device, saving them a trip back to their squad car or a call into their dispatcher and extending new accessibility to those on foot, bike or horseback.”

Attendees of the APCO 2024 event in Orlando can learn more about SmartIncident by visiting Motorola Solutions representatives at Booth #1001 during exhibit-hall hours today.