Temecula, Calif., October 11, 2011 The Morgan County, Ala., Emergency Management Communication District recently utilized the Aurora ® management information system (MIS) solution from emergency communications leader Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, to correctly identify the source of a series of prank 9-1-1 calls.

The MCEMCD traced the false emergency calls to a Punkin Center volunteer firefighter who made the calls, together with an underage colleague, over the past few months. Each call falsely reported a fire or medical emergency within Morgan County. Several county fire departments and ambulance companies responded to the false calls. The last two prank calls were made on September 8, which is when an MCEMCD shift supervisor became suspicious.

“Our latest training on the recently installed MIS solution, Aurora, gave my staff the tools they needed to identify all the prank calls and lead the investigation to completion,” said Ryan Welty, Director, MCEMCD. “With additional assistance from the phone company, we were able to quickly determine the source of the false 9-1-1 calls and confirm who made them.”

In 2010, the MCEMCD fielded approximately 60,000 emergency calls and dispatched more than 140,000 incidents to first responders. Over 80 percent of emergency calls to MCEMCD are now placed using wireless devices, and the use of the Aurora solution makes it easier to locate wireless callers.

 The Aurora solution is an advanced MIS solution designed to enhance the ability to gather, organize, data-mine and report on call center metrics by improving responsiveness and overall management. It also automatically associates related events⎯simplifying incident reconstruction, organization, searching and archiving of data.

Built on state-of-the-art technology, the Aurora solution enables effortless integration with new media and data sources, such as text and email messages, audio analytics and video triggers as they migrate into the next generation emergency call center. The near-real-time Event Grid and Detail pages automatically associate and display related events from the call.

“Although there are no solid statistics as to how many prank calls are fielded by emergency call centers, it is imperative to know that any prank call results in resources being dispatched,” said Darrin J. Reilly, chief operating officer, Cassidian Communications. “Our Aurora solution played an integral part in identifying the location of the call, which not only helped public safety representatives quickly apprehend this individual, but sends a message to all those who falsify emergency calls to think twice before committing this criminal act.”

MCEMCD has been a Cassidian Communications customer since 2003. The center currently is equipped with 10 call taking positions to field emergency and administrative calls, as well as to dispatch calls to first responders at the Decatur Police Department, Decatur Fire and Rescue, the Morgan County Rescue Squad, Trinity Police Department, Priceville Police Department, Decatur EMS and 22 volunteer fire departments.

About Cassidian Communications www.CassidianCommunications.com
As the largest and most trusted source of mission critical communications solutions, Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America company, is leading the way in standards-based NG9-1-1 call center applications, notification solutions and services and P25 land mobile radio systems. Headquartered in Temecula, California.

About EADS North America www.eadsnorthamerica.com
EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.

Media Contacts:

Tami Timperio Vice President, Marketing Cassidian Communications, an EADS North America Company Tel: 951.719.2423 [email protected]