The Aberdeen Police Department, Brown County Sheriff's Department, and Brown County Communications will become the first agencies in South Dakota to use Spillman software to meet the challenges of their growing community, according to the company.

The region is rapidly expanding, said Aberdeen Police Chief Don Lanpher, with more growth expected in the future. Spillman's Mobile software will help the agencies stretch their manpower by allowing field personnel to spend more time patrolling the community. Using the software, officers can complete and submit reports from their laptop computers rather than having to travel back to agency headquarters. The software also allows field personnel to access alerts and warnings before approaching potentially dangerous individuals.

"The Brown County Sheriff, Mark Milbrandt, and I discussed how we could improve on what we currently have for CAD/RMS and we decided we needed a system that provides everything," Lanpher said. "We considered officer safety one of our main priorities for a new system. Being able to receive critical information while in the car prior to contacting a person is a valuable asset."

Field personnel using Spillman's Mobile solution will also be able to quickly access records and time-sensitive call information without relying on radios. The agencies plan to store public safety data on a single server at the Aberdeen Police Department, where it can easily be accessed by field personnel using laptop computers, smart phones, or other mobile devices.

"Before, the officers relied on a dispatcher to retrieve the data they requested and then pass it on via radio," Lanpher said. "That was time consuming and tied up the dispatcher who could have calls waiting."

The agencies also plan to use Spillman's CAD, Records, Jail Management, and Personnel & Resources solutions. Lanpher said that after evaluating multiple public safety software vendors, the agencies found that Spillman was the only vendor that met all their public safety software needs while offering a sense of stability.

"[Spillman] has been in business since the 1980s and has never been sold." Lanpher said. "The company is very stable and customer-oriented."

When the Brown County agencies go live with their system in 2013, they will join agencies in 35 states across the nation using Spillman software.