WEST PALM BECAH, Fla. – West Palm Beach Police Officer Brian Gellin had an idea to create signs marking the different sections of Dreher Park.
“Officer safety wise, you know, for the general public,” Gellin said. “Just for the first responders ourselves it probably made sense to have some kind of identifiers, specifically under the light poles.”
Driving through the park you can see the signs are prominently displayed and easy to see in an emergency situation. ‘N’ is for north, ‘S’ for South. The signs are reflective, which is why they're hung under lights. And they’re also high tech.
“We also got with our GPS GIS guy and he pinpointed at each sign as well,” detailed Gellin. “So if you're to go to a specific sign it comes off with a distinguished location. It has its own address.”
Now first responders know exactly where to go in Dreher Park. They can even pull up a map showing each sign, don't be surprised if dispatchers ask you to look up.
“Time is of the essence so we can get that information out quickly to responding officers they can at least try to locate within the close proximity,” Gellin explained. “Same thing for the medical response guys, the firemen, they're coming here it's a large park so at least now we can pinpoint where they are.