The Vermont Department of Public Safety put its use of a new, computer-aided dispatch and records management system on hold after technical issues bogged down the system’s rollout earlier this week, officials said.
The department brought 23 state and local law enforcement agencies, including Vermont State Police, onto the new system — called Valcour — on Sunday.
But by Monday, the system had begun to slow down, hindering dispatchers’ ability to enter information into it, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Schirling said.
The software’s vendor, California-based CrossWind Technologies, was unable to make substantial speed improvements by Tuesday. To relieve pressure on developers and dispatchers, Schirling said Public Safety reverted back to its previous system, called Spillman, which it will continue to use until Valcour’s speed issue is resolved.
Officials expect the problem involves features that Public Safety requested be added to Valcour ahead of its Sunday rollout.
About half of Vermont’s public safety agencies were already using Valcour before the state agency chose to, Schirling said. This week’s slowdown did not affect the agencies already on the software, he said, just the new additions.
In an interview, Schirling said issues had not been raised about Valcour within the Public Safety Department prior to this week. Modifications requested by the state agency were made, he said.
“Our suspicion is that something in the customizations is causing the slowdown,” he said. “Which would account for why, over the last 11 years, this hasn’t happened.”
Schirling helped design Valcour about a decade ago as chief of the Burlington Police Department after the agency could not find a suitable replacement for its records management system. Burlington Police hired CrossWind to build the software, then made it available to other agencies statewide after it went live in October 2010.
Schirling stepped back from the project after Valcour was developed, he said. Public Safety’s process for selecting a new dispatch and records management system was already underway, he said, when he became the agency’s commissioner in 2019.
Schirling said he played a limited role in the agency’s decision to expand Valcour’s use and that he “didn’t have a preconceived notion” it would be selected.
“The operating environment for Public Safety is different than it is in Burlington,” he said. “It was an open process that I only played some role in.”
In response to a question, the commissioner said neither he nor any member of his family has ever had a financial interest in Valcour.
A better system?
A key difference between Valcour and previous systems used in Vermont is that it operates in the digital cloud. It can be accessed on common devices, such as an iPad.
Schirling said he feels the system is also easier to use and takes less time to learn.
Another benefit officials see is that with many law enforcement agencies using the same system, it will be easier to analyze data and report it to policymakers, said Darwin Thompson, who works with Public Safety and the Agency of Digital Services.
Local police departments contacted by VTDigger gave Valcour mixed reviews.
Thetford Police Chief Michael Evans, whose department was one of the 23 brought on to Valcour on Sunday, said he felt like the transition was take-it-or-leave-it since Thetford uses Vermont State Police as a dispatcher.
The department previously used Spillman, which Evans said was flawed — “but this one seems worse,” he said.
The new system is not user-friendly, Evans said. For instance, he said it takes many more keystrokes to run a license plate in Valcour than it did in Spillman.
He said Valcour is a co-op system, so as users have suggestions, they can be added in over time. But he thinks it’s possible too many suggestions have been added.
Rod Pulsifer, a lieutenant in the Brandon Police Department, said he has seen few issues with Valcour since Brandon adopted the system in 2013. He considers it an improvement over Spillman, which he’s used since the 1990s.
The lieutenant has heard about other departments having issues with Valcour, though he said CrossWind has been responsive when concerns are raised.
Valcour needs an internet connection to work with the cloud, and Pulsifer said there are parts of Brandon where officers cannot connect to it since there is no cell service.
“We tend to work around it,” Pulsifer said, adding he cannot think of a situation where it was problematic.
Evans also said cell service was an issue in Thetford.
When asked about connectivity in rural areas, Schirling said a recent feature added to Valcour would allow information an officer enters offline to be cached, or saved.
He added that previous records management systems had connection issues as well.
“That’s what the radio system is for,” he said of these issues. “So that doesn’t change.”
Maggie Cassidy contributed reporting.
