The Benton Township Board of Trustees has approved a memorandum of understanding with Berrien County for the township fire department to join the county’s Computer Aided Dispatch, or CAD, system.
The county has been implementing CAD with police and fire agencies throughout as a way to better manage emergency response. Benton Township Fire Chief Robert Harper tells us with CAD, central dispatch will see what the firefighters see.
“They’re bringing us up into the modern era,” Harper said. “Right now, it’s all radio communication. We’re out on another call and we clear that call and we’re out back to the station or to get fuel or something. Dispatch can see what the closest — I’ll say car, as in police, but the closest truck — is to that incident. And they may assign us so we can get there sooner.”
The fire department will equip its vehicles with tablets to operate the CAD system.
The county is partially reimbursing police and fire agencies that sign up for CAD. Harper says in the case of Benton Township, it will cost about $213 for the first year and $646 next year.
