What are Skills and Equipment?

In ARMS Skills and Equipment are exactly that; if a specific unit has a unique skill other units/officers do not possess, ARMS users would be able to designate this in the system. Equipment being utilized by units/officers such as MDTs, Batons, Tasers, Handcuffs, etc. can be described and assigned in our Equipment module. These two sections may go under the radar for a lot of departments, but the functionality may change the outcome of an incident tremendously.

How to use Skills and Equipment?

To utilize the Skills and Equipment features there are a few simple setup tasks an ARMS administrator will need to complete prior to using the CAD -> Reference -> Skills and Equipment function. To add any skill codes into the system an ARMS administrator will need to navigate to Set Up -> Code List -> Category: CAD Subcategory: Skills.

In this category selection, the admin will be able to enter any notable skill codes employees have. For example, an officer can speak Spanish fluently. An admin could click “Add New,” and key in the code for Spanish speaking. Once the code is added it can then be selected in the Employee file and Skills and Equipment function.

To add equipment into the system the admin can either add the item in the Employee file, or our built-in Equipment module. These can be found in Set up -> Employee file -> Specific User-> Equipment or Set up-> Equipment.

If the department would like to assign equipment to a specific officer for day-to-day use, it is recommended to add this in their Employee File.

After these steps are taken to add in skills and equipment, dispatchers will then be able to utilize the Reference -> Skills and Equipment function. For this function, a user can open CAD, click Reference at the top of the CAD screen, and then click Skills and equipment.



While in the Skills and Equipment tab the dispatcher will be able to filter out a full list of available skills and equipment that are active on units. The list items are searchable by using the provided text box. When the list items are clicked, any officer/units who have the specified skills or equipment will display at the bottom of the pop-up. This will first show any logged-on units that have that skill/equipment highlighted in green, then any other units that are not logged in highlighted in yellow.

Why use Skills and Equipment?

A department would want to make use of the Skills and Equipment function when in need of dispatching officers to special incident situations. For example, a dispatcher receives a call that a non-English speaking victim had property stolen from them. The dispatcher would key in incident details and then go to the Reference -> Skills and Equipment module to search for who speaks the specified language. Once the search is complete the dispatcher would be able to deploy the unit to the location of the incident. By using this feature the department would be able to gather all necessary information more accurately to report it within the system. This feature will help utilize the department’s assets and handle tricky calls with ease.