iXP Redesigns Communications Center Infrastructure and Facility for Harvard University Police Department

Sector: Higher Education

Focus: Communications Center Redesign

Started: 2001

Situation

The Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) provides police and security services to the Harvard campus environment under the direction of the university's Chief of Police. HUPD services two main campuses; one in Cambridge and one in Longwood, located in the City of Boston. Multiple individual schools fall within the infrastructure supported by central administration functions, one of which is the Harvard University Campus Police Department. The Chief of Police was concerned that his Radio Room, as it was called, was not able to support, operationally or technically, his emphasis on community policing, radically changing the relationship between his department and the University community.

Solution

iXP was engaged in 2001 to assess HUPD'S emergency communications and security environment. The first component was to assess the technology, facility, and operational components of the communications infrastructure. Following the assessment, iXP was then charged with redesigning that infrastructure and transitioning the Radio Room to a new facility located on the City of Cambridge's main thoroughfare, Massachusetts Avenue.

The engagement consisted of a three-step process:

1. Assessment and Planning,
2. Cost Analysis, and
3. Implementation Strategy.

iXP provided the business case development for the infrastructure redesign and transition of the Radio Room to a new facility. Under this agreement, iXP assessed dispatch and communications data, operations and technologies, and the institution's level of security technology integration that existed at the time.

As a major component of this project, iXP developed an integrated safety and security systems operations model. iXP provided recommendations for the redesign of a new environment that was compliant with industry standards and best practices for the University's Emergency Communications Center. It includes an integrated incident response model for multiple public safety agencies.

Results

The Harvard University Police Department implemented a state-of-the-art command and control center to facilitate the department's efforts at maintaining a productive and service-minded relationship with the students, faculty, and staff of Harvard University.

Value Delivered. Problem Solved.