When Expertise Pays Off

Located along the Dan River in Virginia, the City of Danville’s public safety agencies, including a police department, fire department, sheriff’s office, and both adult and juvenile detention facilities, serve a population of more than 41,000 residents.

For 13 years, Danville relied on a legacy public safety software solution. It worked well but wasn’t keeping up with their evolving needs. With the software reaching end-of-life, City leaders saw an opportunity to replace the aging system which included Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD), Records Management System (RMS), Jail Management System (JMS), and Mobile Data Software (MDS), and evaluate their processes across every department.

Danville needed a partner that could bring structure, best practices, and expertise to guide multiple departments through this highly complex project.

Why National Public Safety Group?

From the beginning, Danville leaders understood this project was an opportunity to step back and critically evaluate how their public safety agencies operated.

“We wanted to reinvent everything we were doing and align it to best practices, getting rid of the mindset of ‘that’s the way it’s always been done,’” said Inez Rodenburg, Chief Information Officer.

Knowing it’s often very difficult to bring so many agencies together collaboratively during a public safety software project, Danville decided to bring in an outside partner who could share best practices, keep them aligned, and provide valuable industry perspective.

When Danville issued its RFP, National Public Safety Group (NPSG) stood out for its experience and singular approach. “There was a good connection between the City and NPSG,” explained Rodenburg. “Their philosophy aligned with our culture, and their expertise gave us confidence.”

Value Through Every Phase of the Project

The proprietary NPSG Operating System (NPSG-OS) supports agencies through every step of complex public safety software projects. The four-phase approach – Needs Assessment, Selection, Procurement, and Project Management – help agencies make informed decisions, ensure all needs are met, safeguard interests, and take the burden of these massive projects off agencies.

Needs Assessment

The City wanted to start their project with a comprehensive business process review. This aligned perfectly with NPSG’s approach of starting every project with a thorough Needs Assessment.

NPSG began with a deep dive into Danville’s workflows across all agencies. They spent weeks on site, working side-by-side with each agency’s staff to map workflows, identify gaps, and envision what operations could look like in the future. This comprehensive process resulted in a detailed needs assessment document that became the foundation for the City’s public safety software RFP.

Selection

When proposals from software vendors came in, NPSG guided Danville through a rigorous evaluation process and saved the City hours of time. They built a scoring matrix, streamlined contract reviews, and kept software demonstrations focused.

“NPSG held vendors accountable during demos,” said Rodenburg. “Vendors often want to control the presentation, but NPSG made sure we actually saw what the software could do against our requirements.”

NPSG provided insight into vendor capabilities but didn’t make the decision for the City. “It was important that we weren’t relying on NPSG to decide which solution to go with,” explained Rodenburg. “They helped guide us, but at the end of the day the decision was ours.”

Procurement

Once Danville selected a vendor, NPSG proved invaluable with resources to dive deep into IT contract language and help support the back-and-forth contract negotiations. In the end, the savings NPSG negotiated on Danville’s behalf more than covered the cost of their consulting services—a big win for the City.

Project Management

As implementation began, NPSG facilitated vendor meetings, tracked progress, and advocated for the City’s interests.

“NPSG removed our need to have any project management,” explained Rodenburg. “That was a huge task we did not have to do.”

NPSG also ensured that critical features, such as Danville’s Police-to-Citizen (P2C) portal, stayed on track. In times when it seemed the vendor wanted to brush things off, NPSG would bring critical items back to attention to ensure everything was ready for go-live.

At go-live in March 2025, NPSG deployed a team onsite across departments to supplement the City’s resources. They helped troubleshoot, validate issues, and level-set expectations with staff.

“Departments sometimes want to blame the vendor, but NPSG brought a very realistic perspective explaining what we should be expecting and what was working the way it was supposed to be working,” said Rodenburg. “NPSG brought that real-life experience into the go-live process.”

Results of a Successful Partnership

According to Rodenburg, the partnership with NPSG throughout the project provided Danville with time savings, cost savings, critical advocacy, and experienced resources they wouldn’t have had otherwise.