The Challenge
Formed in 1976 by the cities of Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles in the Chicago metropolitan area, Tri-Com Central Dispatch was created to provide emergency communications to these communities. Today, Tri-Com dispatches for 13 local law enforcement and fire service agencies and answers 130,000+ calls and coordinates 98,000+ dispatches per year. In May 2025 alone, the agency managed 10,746 calls for service across both disciplines, in addition to answering 310 Text-to-911 calls.
The agency employs 21 full-time staff across three shifts to handle these calls for help. Each staff member has a minimum of three certifications to maintain—CPR, APCO (EMD/PST/FSC), and LEADS. Additionally, telecommunicators at Tri-Com are cross-trained in all positions, including fire dispatch and law enforcement dispatch.
All combined, the agency has a complex training and operational structure that requires careful coordination to ensure efficiency, compliance, and readiness.
Before getting started with Frontline, the agency had been using spreadsheets and other third-party software to manage quality assurance, DORs, and policies, but found these processes did not satisfy their needs, were too costly, and were not as easy to use as they wanted.
The Choice
In 2023, Tri-Com Central Dispatch partnered with Frontline, first implementing Community Policing Connect, QA Tracker, and DOR Tracker. According to Tri-Com’s Deputy Director, the primary third-party software they were utilizing before Frontline had become “cost prohibitive.”
“They had a very high price tag for what we were using it for,” she said.
In choosing Frontline, the agency was able to make the most of their resources and utilize software that provided the level of functionality they needed. Additionally, the agency was able to realize their goals of consolidating data and utilizing software that is easier to use than what they had been using previously.
“Having everything under one umbrella really is the ideal,” said the Deputy Director. “[With Frontline,] you can have one open tab on your browser and get to all of the things that you need.”
Following their implementation of Community Policing Connect and QA Tracker, the agency also implemented Frontline’s Policy Tracker, Performance Tracker, and Pro Standards Tracker in 2024, further improving their processes and workflows related to policies, performance, and employee conduct.
The Change
By partnering with Frontline, Tri-Com Central Dispatch has:
- Digitized daily observation reports and streamlined new hire training, making it easier for supervisors to review performance and maintain employee records.
- Streamlined approval workflows with e-Signature routing, eliminating bottlenecks and reducing the amount of time it takes for relevant parties to review DORs.
- Improved employee and supervisor performance review processes and provided stakeholders with increased access to relevant data when preparing for a review via dashboards.
- Formalized processes for compliments from outside entities and peers, ensuring they are properly documented and available for consideration during performance reviews.
- Enabled the agencies they provide services to with an easy way to submit complaints and requests to review calls.
- Ensured employees receive the support they need following high-stress calls and that relevant follow-up actions or notations about employee conduct are documented.
- Improved management of their 92 policies and ensured employees review policy updates on a timely basis with automatic reminders.
- Simplified management of house vacation watches, bike registrations, and other similar information via Community Policing Connect.
Prior to partnering with Frontline, Tri-Com utilized a homegrown spreadsheet system to manage their QA processes, which required much more manual administrative work to maintain. Now, the agency can easily review employee performance during calls.
“It really does make it pretty easy,” said a Training Manager with Tri-Com. “We’re able to run reports on certain date ranges when we’re doing annual evaluations.”
When a new employee is hired at Tri-Com, they go through new employee training, with hundreds of goals that must be met at different stages of training. QA Tracker makes it easy for trainers and trainees to keep track of training progress in real-time.
“The trainer signs off and then the trainee will sign off as well when both parties are comfortable that they’ve met and achieved that goal,” the Training Manager said.
Prior to QA Tracker, these documents were sent to the employee individually and stored locally, impeding Tri-Com’s ability to gain valuable data insights.
“It was just a pain,” the Training Manager said. “Now, it’s totally night and day. Employees are able to quickly access any QA they’ve received. [The documents] are also searchable, which is very nice and a lot easier.”
Additionally, each day the employee is evaluated via a daily observation report, which is tracked in DOR Tracker.
“We’re able to track if someone’s really struggling,” he said. “The reporting feature is pretty nice.”
Beyond training, the agency has also formalized processes related to employee commendations, referred to as “compliments” in Pro Standards Tracker.
“It’s nice to have them in there, especially when it comes time to do performance evaluations,” the Deputy Director said.
Tri-Com is also using Pro Standards Tracker to support employee wellness and make sure employees receive the support they need after a traumatic call.
“High stress calls are documented in there so we can remind ourselves to keep an eye on that person and offer them support,” she said. “It lets us see the source of why someone’s behavior might change.”
Overall, Frontline is helping Tri-Com streamline and simplify many of their processes—from managing policies, new employee training, and quality assurance, to ensuring employees receive the support they need to succeed. In turn, Tri-Com Central Dispatch can provide the very best services to their community and their fellow agencies.
To learn more about how Frontline can support operations at your agency, please request a demo today.
Frontline’s suite of public safety software solutions includes policy management, quality assurance for PSAPs, internal affairs, training records management, community policing, body-worn camera audits, DOR tracking, field training management, and employee evaluations.