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Worcester County Emergency Services seeks funding for CAD/RMS replacement, staffing and expanded training
Summary
Emergency Services staff asked commissioners to fund a consultant and larger budget items to evaluate replacement of aging computer-aided dispatch and records systems, expand professional development and add resources for communications infrastructure and hiring processes, including psychological and background screening.
Worcester County Department of Emergency Services presented a FY2026 budget request that includes funding for consulting on a potential replacement of its computer-aided dispatch (CAD), records management system (RMS) and jail management system (JMS), upgrades to aging paging and transmitter infrastructure, and expanded hiring-related services including psychological evaluations and background checks.
James (no last name provided), deputy within Emergency Services, described operational gaps in the county’s public-safety information systems and the risk that vendor instability and past outages pose to public safety: “In 1 case, we lost over 2 weeks of data…meaning that we don't know what police officers or fire engines or ambulances went anywhere in those 2 weeks. That's just not acceptable for a public safety system,” he said. Commissioners were told a consultant is needed because system replacement projects “are extremely expensive and are extremely complicated.”
The department requested a $100,000 contractual consultant allocation (recorded in the budget as $100,000 for consultant support for CAD/RMS/JMS replacement) and separate funding to stabilize and maintain transmitter and weather-monitoring infrastructure, including a three-site pilot for more accurate, site-specific weather data to support emergency response and public works reporting.
Emergency Services also proposed expanding background and psychological screening for new hires – a change already phased in – to reduce turnover and training costs. Commissioners asked whether these screenings would reduce the county’s historically long hiring timeline; staff said enhanced screening begins after a conditional offer and that early results indicate improved short-term retention, though they described anecdotal evidence only.
Other requests included funds for uniforms and professional development to raise department professionalism, replacement of aging vehicles and transmitter HVAC units, and $40,000 for mental-health services required by COMAR for 9-1-1 operations. The department projected a 35% drop in certain revenues (largely grant-dependent) and said it is seeking local funding to cover new or continuing obligations.
Emergency Services said it also plans to pilot site-specific weather stations at the Ocean Pines wastewater site and the central landfill to support regulatory compliance and emergency response. The department asked commissioners to weigh the consultant and system-replacement costs against ongoing reliability risks to public safety communications and records.
Commissioners requested more detail on consultant scope, total lifecycle costs for system replacement versus continued patching, and metrics tying psychological/background screening to retention; Emergency Services staff said more analysis is forthcoming if the county funds consultant work.
