TXI Systems
Automating Tow Dispatch and Impound Management

It is 7.45 AM on a Monday morning, and the phones at the tow truck dispatch center of this bustling city are ringing off the hook. Post a car accident that happened an hour earlier, a secondary accident ensued, slowing down the clearing process, as the tow truck that was previously dispatched was stuck in the traffic. This is a scene that plays out in most cities around the world on a daily basis due to manual tow request distribution that takes roughly five to ten minutes after the law enforcement officer, who arrives first at the location, places a call. The goal, undoubtedly, is to minimize the response time of the towing provider no matter what. Aiming to eliminate these dispatch impediments and ultimately help law enforcement agencies with quicker response times is a company called TXI Systems that automates the process through its SaaS-based electronic towing dispatch application. Dubbed TOPS Central Management Application (CMA), this solution removes verbal and other manual communication and distributes the call request intelligently, based on proximity, police rotation, and zonal presence of the towing trucks, among others. It also displays additional information such as estimated time of arrival (ETA), and offers mapping with live traffic, with which law enforcement officers can clear the scene at the earliest. Views of bread crumbing the incident after the fact help facilitate training and quick complaint resolution.

“Built around accountability, efficiency, and transparency between law enforcement agencies and towing operators, TOPS CMA allows features like reports, searching, two-way electronic messaging, and documents storage, such as images and details pertaining to the accident scene,” says Jeff Pesnell, COO, TXI Systems. The reporting entities—be it the police, fire department, EMS, or highway-governing authorities—can work independent of dispatch companies and request a tow truck using TOPS CMA directly. Not only does the solution help in enhanced interaction between the stakeholders, but it offers full transparency of the entire towing and impounding event, including investigative holds and pricing, whether it is towed to the city-owned impound lot, a private impound lot, or even a repair facility.

In addition to tow truck dispatch, TXI Systems provides solutions to operate complex municipal impound facilities. The impound solution is tied to the TOPS CMA product, enabling better transparency between impound and the towing service. With a TXI-powered search tool available on the law enforcement website, the public can search for cars in impound, which reduces the call traffic for law enforcement agencies. What’s more, CMA’s flexibility empowers users to integrate with their existing computer-aided dispatch system.

TOPS CMA allows features like reports searching, two-way electronic messaging, and documents storage, such as images and details pertaining to the accident scene

When a client request hits TXI Systems’ inbox, the teams conduct an onsite interview to get a grasp of the requirements, operational structure, and their business model. Using the acquired information, TXI Systems deploys the most optimal solution, customized based on the preferred configuration. In due course of time, the team conducts testing and training for the application, working toward an agreed launch date. TXI Systems also has a live support service where they assist their clients in using and troubleshooting the system.

TXI Systems’ prowess proved highly valuable for an organization that wanted to reduce the time lapse in truck arrival at the location of a crash. In pursuit of a GPS-based dispatch solution that will help them find the truck closest to the geocode of the wreckage, the firm came across CMA. Postdeploymnt, the system cut the manual involvement of dispatching a truck to the requested location, bringing the arrival time down from 30-40 minutes to 15-20 minutes.

As part of its next strategic moves that are on the horizon, TXI Systems will be adding features and functions, and reaching out to law enforcement agencies from more cities and counties. On the service offerings front, there will be additional web-based and mobile tools that will help users navigate easily and provide the municipality with actionable data. “The goal is to fine-tune the towing and impound systems, thereby serving the people better, and aid cities with their Green-initiatives by clearing streets faster with a reduced carbon footprint,” concludes Pesnell.