The city announced a $1.25 million settlement with Utah-based Spillman Technologies, Inc. on Tuesday afternoon.
The city of San Angelo filed a lawsuit in March against Spillman — a public safety software provider that bills itself as “the home of reliable innovation” — seeking to recover more than $3.5 million in allegations that the software endangered the lives of San Angelo firefighters, police, and nearby residents.
The city issued debt in the amount of $1.5 million in 2016 to pay it off. However, the software, which was advertised as indispensable and state-of-the-art, instead led to system failures and risky situations, according to documents the city filed with the district clerk’s office.
According to a statement released at the time, the City pledged to “vigorously pursue the recovery of the $1.5 million in costs it incurred under the contract, as well as the $2.375 million in costs dollars that our taxpayers now have to pay to purchase a replacement software system.” The city was also seeking punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and court costs.
To learn more about the history of the software and its replacement, click on this link.
In legal documents, the city cited a January 13 incident that endangered the lives of San Angelo firefighters as an example of the consequences of a malfunctioning CAD/RMS system:
“The city received a 911 call from a man who said he was armed, planned to kill police officers, and nearby homes needed to be evacuated. Around the same time, the city received other calls to 911 reporting a house fire Spillman’s CAD system – which Spillman said would alert call-takers of potential duplicate calls based on the location of the call – did not alert callers. city dispatchers that duplicate calls were reporting separate incidents from the same address.”
The incident happened in the 1200 East 21st Street block. To learn more, click on this link.
As a result, the police arrived at the scene of the disturbances and were surprised to find the house on fire. Meanwhile, firefighters arrived at the same scene, which they thought was just a house fire, to find a gunman threatening a shootout with police. Firefighters crawled into the back of their engine for cover while police dealt with the suspect.
In another case, the document says, the city received a 911 call about a San Angeloan in cardiac arrest. The call came from the southern part of town, but Spillman’s AVL Mapping software incorrectly identified a unit in the northernmost part of town as the closest available EMS unit to dispatch.
Travel time from his location to the stage was 25-30 minutes. While the unit was en route, an available EMS unit in the southern part of town learned of the emergency and “jumped the road” to arrive earlier than the Spillman unit’s system had been dispatched. None of the EMS units arrived in time to provide effective medical treatment, the document said.
According to a statement released earlier this year, the city has been trying to find solutions to make the system work.
“From the time the Spillman system went live in June 2016 until earlier this year, SAPD staff and the city’s Chief Information Officer have worked tirelessly to try and get the Spillman system to work and convince company to meet its contractual obligations,” it said. “The nine months the city has been using Spillman software have been filled with false promises, unresolved complaints, empty assurances, and failed negotiations, all related to a faulty product that resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in money and in hours of work.”
In its lawsuit, the City identified 12 false statements made by Spillman in its proposal to the City. The case had been assigned to the 51st District Court.
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The claims made by the city in her lawsuit were disputed by Spillman and were fully resolved by the parties’ settlement, according to a memo from City Attorney Theresa James released Tuesday.
The settlement recognizes the value the city has received over the past year from the Spillman System, which includes a recording and management system that organizes the flow of information produced by the San Angelo Police Department, a computer-assisted dispatch system that helps answer and prioritize calls for help and then dispatch the closest first responder, and a mobile unit system in police cars that allows officers to interrogate and cross-reference information on the ground.
The parties are satisfied with the resolution of the legal dispute, which allows them to move forward with their respective operations, the memo states. The parties have agreed to make no further comment.
City Council approved the emergency purchase of new CAD/RMS software from Hexagon Safety & Infrastructure at a cost of $2.23 million in March. This is the same provider used by SAPD before using Spillman. City officials declined to say whether they had implemented the new software system.
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