Software to help police during critical incidents

The Jupiter Town Council has approved Police Chief Frank Kitzerow’s request for about $34,000 from federal forfeiture funds for a five-year subscription to a management software that helps control, direct and organize multiple agencies or departments during critical incidents, such as an active shooter.

The council unanimously approved the money for the subscription to Rhodium Incident Management Software during last week’s meeting. This was the second action in recent weeks that the police department has taken to make sure it is prepared.

Last month, Kitzerow asked the town for $37,000 from the federal forfeiture funds to set up an Active Shooter Response system, which is a “localized alarm system” that automatically alerts 200 pre-selected contacts when an emergency takes place. It also was unanimously approved.

“Critical incidents (to include Active Shooter), planned events and events involving multiple agencies or departments, are taxing on command and ICS resources,” Kitzerow wrote in a memo to Town Manager Matt Benoit seeking the additional funds. “Successful outcomes often are dependent on proper planning and coordination of assets.”

Rhodium is a cloud-based software that allows near real-time coordination of information and plans between on-scene responders. It also pulls information from social media feeds that could be helpful to the situation.

The software records information such as a unit’s disposition, location and duration of the event, which helps alleviate the time officers spend on post-incident logs and Federal Emergency Management Agency forms for reimbursement.

The annual subscription cost is $6,930 and the five-year total cost is projected to be $34,650.