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MITIGATING RISK & REDUCING LIABILITY
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DARIN T. RINEY, ENP
Director of Operations
AGENCY
Hamilton County Public Safety
Communications
www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov
LOCATION
Noblesville, IN
ABOUT DARIN
Darin has been in public
safety since 1999. Serving in
many different capacities as a
communication professional or
a reserve police officer. He has
been the director of operations
at the Hamilton County Public
Safety Communications Center
for nearly 3 years. “Education
and training is very important
to Public Safety”, says Darin.
“Agency360 has helped our
program and I hope it can help
yours as well.”
EASY TO USE SOFTWARE, MORE THOROUGH DOCUMENTATION
“Our Communications Center highly recommends Agency360 CTO Software” – Darin Riney
ABOUT
HAMILTON COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS
Hamilton County is located just north of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is
comprised of eight towns and is one the fastest growing counties in the
nation. With a coverage area of 398 square miles and a population of
nearly 315,000 this center has a call volume of approximately 250,000
non-emergency telephone calls annually, with an additional 80,000 9-1-1
calls for service.
Hamilton County Public Safety Communications (HCPSC), like many
other agencies, struggles to find individuals that can handle the difficult
challenge of being a good dispatcher. Not everyone can perform well
under the high risk, high stress situations that can occur in a 911 center.
To be successful a new hire must coordinate officer safety, location,
situational control and detailed information through a series of channels
to give the best outcome to a situation.
HCPSC uses a standardized communications training officer program
(CTO Program) to on-board their new dispatchers and continue the
education from the classroom to the floor. One of the staples of this
training program is clear documentation that provides a consistent
process. At the end of each shift, the new hire’s CTO produces a

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Daily Observation Report (DOR) that scores the trainee in different
performance categories on a numeric scale. Up until the fall of 2015,
HCPSC was documenting this process on paper and keeping the signed
copies in binder. HCPSC went paperless with their CTO documentation
using Agency360’s software which helped them to win an unemployment
case in early 2016. Darin Riney, from HCPSC tells the story.
THE COURT CASE
We recently had a situation where an employee was terminated based on her
inability to perform. The trainee was still in the middle of her CTO program
and was not progressing as expected and unfortunately needed to be let go.
Shortly after being let go, she filed for unemployment and the unemployment
system determined she was terminated with just cause. This was based on the
recorded documentation presented to the court and to the trainee from the
Agency360 software.
In the State of Indiana when a person files for unemployment and is then
denied, they are allowed to file an appeal which is then overheard by a
judicial employment judge and involves a formal hearing with both parties
testifying.
Per procedure information was sent ahead of time to the judge. The
information sent was compiled in a manner that made it easy for the judge to
review. We sent the compilation report that exports all the trainee’s records
into one file. Once HCPSC was called to testify the judge was able to keep the
questions short and to the point.
The Judge asked two questions when it was our turn to testify.
1. “Did the trainee have the opportunity to review the comments made by the
trainer?”
2. “Were the comments that the trainee input in fact her comments?
Both answers were yes and could easily be seen from the report since
Agency360’s CTO Software allows the employee to make comments about
the DOR’s at the time they are reviewed with their trainer. This particular
employee had made comments that were electronically signed by both the
trainer and herself. These comments included, “I am really struggling in
this position and the department is going out of their way to try to get me
to succeed.” Since we were able to pull these comments directly from the
“Sometimes trainees fail and
we have to end their training
short of becoming a full time
dispatcher. In those instanc-
es we have to have the right
amount of documentation to
prove that they are being let
go for the right reasons.” says
Darin Riney of HCPSC. don’t
think there is any doubt we
are saving money by using it.”
Darin Riney, ENP
Hamilton County 911

3. AGENCY360 LLC | PUBLIC SAFETY OPTIMIZED
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DOR and the electronic signatures show all parties agreed to the trainer and
trainee reviews written, it was proven that she in fact did sign and make
the comments in question. The judge decided in our favor, saving HSCPSC
embarrassment and money!
THE VERDICT
Ultimately, with a good process, strong trainers and easy access to
documentation from the Agency360 CTO Software, HSCPSC was able to
win the case. Darin Riney states, “A large part of the success of winning
the appeal was the very user friendly set up of Agency360. Without
the ease of use, our CTO’s wouldn’t have been as comfortable doing
the documentation and been less likely to utilize the system to its full
advantage, making the appeal for unemployment payout possibly
land in the employee’s favor.” Darin added, “It’s always said, if it isn’t
documented, it didn’t happen…well this was a case of it did happen, and it
was documented, thanks to Agency360.”
“A large part of the success of
winning the appeal was the very
user friendly set up of Agency360.
Without the ease of use, our CTO’s
wouldn’t have been as comfortable
doing the documentation and
been less likely to utilize the system
to its full advantage. Making the
appeal for unemployment payout
possibly land in the employee’s
favor..”
Darin Riney, ENP
Hamilton County 911