CIS Operations Center

Our central Operations Center in Clearwater, Florida provides communications, dispatch, and information support for CIS operations throughout the state.

The operations center's experienced staff of dispatchers and command personnel assist officers in the field by monitoring unit locations, dispatching emergency assistance, checking vehicle tag numbers and subject names, and assisting with logistical activities. The enhanced communications and information support provided by the operations center improves response to emergency situations, increases officer safety, and ensures that officers are capable of making informed decisions when interacting with unfamiliar people in the field. The operations center also serves as a central location for documenting incidents, intelligence about criminal activities, and contacts between officers and the public.

To effectively support the activities of our operations staff, the CIS operations center is equipped with state-of-the-art communications and information systems. All patrol vehicles, for example, are tracked in realtime by a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) System that displays the location of each patrol unit on-screen at our operations center. By simply looking at the computer screen, CIS operations personnel can identify and dispatch the closest patrol unit to any client location.

The GPS satellite system allows our Operations Center to track the location of CIS patrol vehicles in real-time. This facilitates rapid dispatch of vehicles during emergency situations. All vehicle movements are recorded and provide an accurate record of patrol vehicle activity for auditing or post-incident investigation purposes.

Another feature of the operations center is the Criminal Intelligence Matrix (CIMATRIX), our operations and intelligence database. All incidents, subject interactions, trespass warnings, and field intelligence reports are entered into CIMATRIX. CIMATRIX provides quick access to over 180,000 security events reported by CIS officers and information on thousands of subject individuals.

If an officer in the field encounters an individual, the operations center can instantly check the individual's name in CIMATRIX to see if any other CIS officers have had previous encounters with the subject. If so, this information is relayed to the officer via radio. Likewise, command staff and clients that periodically audit activity on properties can run a query and build a file of all incidents that occurred on a property while the location was under CIS protection. This capability has proved invaluable on numerous occasions.

CIMATRIX currently documents over 500,000 security events reported by CIS officers and thousands of subject individuals.

Patrol units access CIMATRIX directly from laptop computers located in each patrol car. The laptops are wirelessly networked to CIMATRIX by using the same type of citrix metaframe communications system employed by police departments throughout the United States. This enables patrol officers to instantly access CIMATRIX data from their vehicles in addition to information on suspect vehicles and special intelligence updates on gang activity and police BOLO alerts.

For events of civil emergency, the operations center is also equipped with long-range radio communications and a direct line to local county Emergency Operations Centers. If a natural disasters or other crisis occurs, the CIS operations center can continue to support field operations in close coordination with local authorities.