State-of-the-art Mapping System
We first visited Chief Corrubia who has been on top of the changes and he showed us what Jeff Blank and Lt. Wiren of the Records Department were doing with crime mapping. We then went down to have a discussion with Sgt. Al Macchietto and newly hired IT specialist, Steven Tessler. There they showed me how intricate this system is. Steven zeroed in on my residence and showed me where my car is usually parked in the parking lot. Wow!
One of the features is designated places for a helicopter to land within the Borough. Should there be a need for a medivac, the Communications Bureau can zero right in to speed things up. As a matter of fact, should there be any alert in town, they transmit the information directly to the vehicle involved. This includes longitude, latitude, street, block number and address as well as the shortest route to get there. The dispatcher back in headquarters can get all the information needed almost instantaneously to the proper source.
As Lt. Sheehan pointed out, the minutes saved can be critical in medical emergencies as well as fire containment.
This Geographical Information System (GIS) was chosen after careful research. Unlike data available to the public, this information is based on geographical location. Overlays can bring in pertinent information. In the instance of a fire, the data transmitted to the responding vehicles shows the nearest fire hydrants to the blaze.
For departments such as the Building Department, Tax Assessor, Planning Board and OEM they can even program in sewers and utilities. Information such as dead end streets can make a difference to the responding facility. All this peripheral data is well protected and our system covers all of Bergen County and is shared with them.
One may think ‘Big Brother’, but in this case Big Brother is protecting Paramus residents. It is well worth the effort.
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