AWS Public Sector Blog
Transforming justice and public safety solutions with CentralSquare and AWS
In critical moments when every second counts, justice and public safety (JPS) agencies need technology solutions that are secure, reliable, and fast. But outdated legacy systems hold these agencies back: they’re clunky, slow to innovate, and vulnerable to cyber-attacks, weather events, and other disasters.
To address these needs, CentralSquare is on a mission to migrate more than 1,000 on-premises JPS agency workloads to the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud. CentralSquare is a government technology (GovTech) company and AWS Partner that provides mission-critical software to more than 8,000 local public service organizations across North America. Their offerings include 911 call handling, computer-aided dispatch (CAD), records management systems (RMS), and more—helping agencies manage life-threatening emergencies as well as everyday business needs.
To power these essential solutions—and move agencies to the cloud securely, compliantly, and fast—CentralSquare exclusively builds on AWS infrastructure.
CentralSquare’s CAD service keeps first responders connected during emergencies
When emergencies happen, quick access to critical information is paramount. CentralSquare’s cloud-based CAD and RMS services, powered by AWS, help dispatchers and responders quickly access and share real-time information during high-pressure situations. Because of AWS’s scalability, along with using multi-Availability Zones paired with cross-regional data replication, CentralSquare delivers resilience and continuous availability to seamlessly handle demand spikes during emergencies while maintaining high performance, making sure vital services stay operational when they’re needed most.
CentralSquare’s CAD system helps 911 dispatchers quickly route first responders using real-time location data and other information. The CAD system also automatically synchronizes with their RMS solution, a repository of event data, including video and sensor data from on-site responders. This data is then accessible immediately, anytime and anywhere, by authorized staff.
Plus, it makes case reporting simpler, so first responders spend less time on manual data entry and more time serving the community. “Being able to connect the systems speeds up the process for putting case reports together because a lot of it is already pre-populated from the CAD system,” explains Tucker Halverson, product manager at Central Square.
Breaking down data silos to mobilize agencies across jurisdictions
Jurisdictional data silos are another common challenge for public safety agencies. CentralSquare’s CAD-to-CAD system, Unify, bridges this gap by allowing seamless data sharing across agencies. “If you have a situation that’s crossing boundaries of jurisdictions, Unify helps get that information across to your neighboring agency,” says Ashya Comes, vice president of product management at CentralSquare. “Oftentimes another agency has a quicker response time because they’re closer. They can pick it up while it’s already in progress and respond.”
This interoperability is a powerful tool for first responders to rapidly share information, whether between a community’s fire and police responders, or with an outside agency like the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC). For one county, this inter-organizational connectivity helped seven agencies mobilize together onsite within three minutes in response to a major threat.
Accelerating compliant cloud adoption for 1,000 on-premises public safety workloads with AWS Landing Zone
As agencies increasingly move to the cloud for its enhanced interoperability, scalability, and security capabilities, CentralSquare needed a way to migrate JPS customers quickly, with zero downtime, and in compliance with important government regulations.
To support the scale of its customers’ migration efforts, CentralSquare turned to AWS Landing Zone. “CentralSquare is onboarding thousands of public safety agencies to the cloud, and Landing Zone serves as the single governance platform for all these customers,” says AJ Jhala, principal account executive at AWS.
Using AWS Landing Zones, CentralSquare can quickly set up unique, secure, multi-account environments for their customers, based on AWS best practices. AWS Landing Zone automates the environment configuration for running secure and scalable workloads—while implementing an initial security baseline across all accounts in the environment.
With support from the AWS Professional Services (AWS ProServe) team, CentralSquare built its landing zone environment in about six months. Now, CentralSquare rapidly onboards new customers and deploys their cloud-based public safety systems—all designed to be compliant with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) policy. CentralSquare’s onboarding process has improved so much that it recently onboarded three customers in a single day, with most customers gaining access to their new systems within a week of contracts being signed.
Supporting critical operations in the face of ransomware and other events
System downtime is truly a matter of life or death for public safety agencies. For the Murieta Police Department (Murieta PD) in California, one of CentralSquare’s first law enforcement agency customers to go all-in on AWS, transitioning to the cloud proved essential in maintaining operations during a critical moment.
Facing end-of-life hardware and the prospect of lengthy procurement cycles, Murieta PD migrated to CentralSquare’s CAD and RMS offerings in AWS. “The ability to rapidly deploy these applications in a secure, compliant cloud environment was a game-changer for Murieta PD,” said a representative from the department. “Within weeks, our officers had access to modern software that streamlined their operations from the time a 911 call came in all the way through to case reporting.”
When the Murieta PD’s on-premises systems were crippled by a ransomware incident, the true value of the cloud became clear. As the department faced months of disruption, the AWS-powered public safety suite with CentralSquare remained fully operational, allowing officers to continue responding to emergencies without interruption.
For law enforcement and emergency response teams, keeping systems running smoothly 24/7 is non-negotiable. As public safety agencies face increasing cyber risks and weather events that destabilize on-premises infrastructure, CentralSquare’s cloud-based solutions ensure essential JPS services remain operational—no matter the threat.
Looking ahead to the future of cloud-powered public safety
From cloud-based 911 call handling to advanced data sharing between agencies, CentralSquare and AWS are collaborating to bring the benefits of the cloud to all aspects of the public safety lifecycle.
To provide even more value to agencies, CentralSquare will soon release a cloud-based system built on Amazon Connect to support non-emergency calls, which are the vast majority of calls made into 911 systems. This will help agencies prioritize their resources where they matter most—while allowing every caller to receive the help they need.
CentralSquare encourages public safety agencies to engage with their team to learn more about their cloud offerings and chart their own migration path. Interested in learning how these solutions can help you transform your JPS operations? Learn more about CentralSquare.
JPS agencies around the world—and the companies that support them—are using AWS to deploy cost-effective and highly-available mission-critical services to support the public and protect their employees. Learn more about AWS for Justice and Public Safety.
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