See how City of Annapolis improves employee productivity and response times.

Finding the right system

Ricky Truitt, Director of Special Programs, had a number of requirements when he started looking for a fleet management system. Like many public fleets, he needed software that would integrate with their other technology, accommodate their large and mixed fleet, and be easy to train his staff on. After testing a few competitors, Annapolis chose Verizon Connect for its user-friendly interface and ability to integrate with Dossier for vehicle maintenance and Esri for GIS data.

Accountability and response

The city has a lot of vehicles and drivers to keep tabs on between the Police, Fire, Public Works and Transportation departments, as well as their third-party refuse collection trucks and snow plows. The Verizon Connect live map lets them see where any vehicle is at any time, and vehicle tracking reports provide historical data to prove a vehicle’s whereabouts using GPS. These features help the city respond when a resident calls about their garbage pickup or wants to know whether an officer responded to a call. Ricky explains how crucial this data is for being accountable to the public: “Being in the right areas and staying for the right amount of times, being able to report back to citizens that make complaints ... we could say, well, not only did they come, they stayed for 20 minutes on this call.” 

Furthermore, they’re able to pull GPS location data into the police dispatch system, helping them to move to proximity dispatching, which means the closest officer will respond to “provide the quickest and the fastest service to the citizens.”

That location data has helped the city manage their vehicle take-home program, so they can determine which miles were used for city purposes versus personal time. Coupled with their ability to track vehicle idling, they plan to reduce their carbon footprint by reducing their fuel use.

Employee productivity and COVID-19 safety

The location data has helped workers be more productive throughout the day. For Public Works, employees know that supervisors are spot checking vehicle locations so they can make sure workers are at their correct assignments. The city can verify timesheets with vehicle location data, check that work was completed in a certain amount of time and see that officers are reporting to work on time. Ricky explains: “So now the supervisors are able to see that all their oncoming cars are on the street, and they’re in their assigned areas, without having to do any kind of radio checks.”

Recently, COVID-19 has added additional complexities to getting the city’s work done. Thankfully, with Verizon Connect, they can monitor things like group vehicle gatherings and make sure only one driver is assigned to each vehicle. They can also have a log of which drivers were assigned to which vehicles in the event of a safety issue.

Mitigating risk, expanding their units and tracking assets

With 300+ vehicles in their fleet, it’s not unusual for a resident to call with a complaint about a driver speeding or claiming a city vehicle caused an accident. With activity and driver behavior reports from Verizon Connect, they can address these events with accurate metrics to help manage their fleet’s risk in the community.

Recently, Annapolis added 40 more units to their fire apparatus to track ambulances, fire engines, hook-and-ladder trucks and bomb squad vehicles. This allows them to gain greater visibility into fire vehicle activities the same way they have with the rest of their fleet, including driver behaviors like speed and braking, as well as location data.

Often, fleets can forget about their expensive equipment in the field, but tracking assets are equally important for security and monitoring. Annapolis has added asset trackers to their boats, backhoes and bobcats to see their location and aid in necessary response when needed.

The bottom line for Ricky is that employees are held more accountable, and the city can more quickly respond to resident requests. Verizon Connect has helped their fleet contribute to the city’s mission to enrich the lives of their constituents one call at a time.