CASE STUDY
Caddo parish emergency operations center
INTRODUCTION
Caddo Parish modernized its Emergency Operations Center through a long-term partnership with Link Integration Group, combining the parish’s operational expertise with customized AV engineering.
Tony LeBlanc and the Caddo Parish emergency-management team knew what they needed from the room. The Shreveport area regularly faces severe weather and other emergencies, while major public events such as Mardi Gras can require personnel to monitor activity across miles of roadway.
Caddo Parish had the experience to manage those situations. Its existing technology, however, was no longer keeping pace. The parish needed a system that could provide a broader view of developing situations without becoming harder to operate.
Reaching that goal would require more than replacing equipment. It would require a technology partner willing to stay flexible as the project evolved.
CHALLENGE
Caddo Parish’s existing EOC relied on four ceiling-mounted projectors, limiting personnel to four primary sources at a time.
Each new source of information forced the team to decide what to remove from the screen. During an active emergency or major public event, that could make it harder to maintain a complete view of what was happening across the parish.
Personnel needed to bring in new camera feeds, weather information, or operational data without losing visibility into something else that was already important.
“Our biggest concern was making sure we had all the information needed to understand what was happening across the parish,” LeBlanc said.
Caddo Parish began to see what a more modern Emergency Operations Center (EOC) could look like after visiting the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness headquarters in Baton Rouge.
The parish later reconnected and began engaging more closely with Link Integration Group at the Louisiana Emergency Management Conference (LEMC). Those conversations centered on how the EOC needed to function during real operations, not simply on what equipment could be installed.
As the project moved forward, federal grant requirements began shaping when and how portions of the technology could be purchased. Link Integration worked closely with Caddo Parish to think through purchasing options that aligned with the grant’s annual criteria while still supporting the larger vision for the EOC.
As those requirements changed, Link Integration stayed flexible and adjusted the project plan rather than forcing Caddo Parish into a rigid purchasing structure. The two teams ultimately re-engineered the work under the same contract into four phases, giving the parish a practical way to keep moving forward as each phase became possible.
Over nearly two years, Link Integration remained closely engaged as the purchasing timeline evolved, helping Caddo Parish align each phase of the project with the grant’s annual criteria while keeping the larger vision for the EOC intact.
That extended collaboration also gave Link Integration a deeper understanding of how Caddo Parish personnel needed the EOC to perform. By the time installation began, both teams had worked through the planning and purchasing process together, resulting in a thoughtfully designed system built around the parish’s operational needs.
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solution
Link Integration designed the upgraded EOC around the way Caddo Parish personnel actually work. A large-format video wall replaced the limitations of the four-projector setup, allowing personnel to bring together live drone footage, security cameras, weather information, active 911-call data, and other operational sources.
Caddo Parish also had a specific request for how personnel would manage those feeds. Tony’s team wanted a 43-inch operator monitor that could show four separate computer outputs at the same time. The configuration was not a standard installation, so Link Integration engineered the system around the parish’s workflow.
“We now have a 43-inch monitor where we can see four separate screens on that monitor, on top of everything else we have on the big screen,” LeBlanc said.
The customization allows personnel to prepare several feeds before deciding what should appear on the main video wall.
Ease of use was just as important as capability.
A sophisticated AV system would not solve Caddo Parish’s problem if personnel struggled to operate it during an emergency. Link Integration programmed touch-panel controls that allow users to select sources and manage displays with the press of a button.
Deputy John Lane initially wondered how difficult the new system would be to learn.
“When Brent Gay from Link Integration came in, he made it easy and simple,” Lane said. “The things I know and the things I’ve learned, I credit Brent for that.”
Barco ClickShare added another layer of simplicity. Tony jokingly refers to the ClickShare button as the “hockey puck.”
“We take the puck, plug it into somebody’s laptop, and they can share what they have without disconnecting one of our HDMI cables,” LeBlanc said.
The feature may be simple, but it reflects the project's larger goal: to give personnel more capability while removing unnecessary steps from the way they use the room.
That same flexibility carried through installation. After nearly two years of planning and purchasing, an unexpected ice storm delayed Link Integration’s access to the site just as the project approached an important operational deadline.
Caddo Parish needed the system ready before Mardi Gras season.
Link Integration adjusted the installation schedule, worked through the disruption, and still completed the EOC in time.
outcome
The upgraded EOC gives Caddo Parish a broader view of developing situations and makes it easier to introduce new information without disrupting what personnel are already monitoring.
That capability became especially valuable during Shreveport’s Mardi Gras celebration. With approximately 150,000 people potentially spread across more than six miles of parade route, individual cameras and field operators can only see part of what is happening.
The upgraded EOC allows Caddo Parish to bring live drone footage and security-camera feeds together in the same environment.
“The ability to live-feed cameras and drone footage directly into our EOC has made a big difference,” LeBlanc said.
A drone operator may be concentrating on one section of the route while another camera focuses elsewhere. Inside the EOC, Tony and his team can compare those views and alert field personnel when they notice something developing outside an individual operator’s immediate focus.
“The people operating a drone or camera may be focused on one area, but our team can review the larger picture and alert them when we notice something developing,” LeBlanc said. “Having access to those different views has made a world of difference.”
The technology does not replace the experience of Caddo Parish’s emergency-management team. It gives them a more complete picture to work from.
“It has basically brought us into the 21st century,” LeBlanc said.
The finished system is only part of what made the project successful. Over nearly two years, Link Integration remained flexible as purchasing requirements changed, restructured the project when needed, engineered custom solutions around Caddo Parish’s workflow, and adjusted again when weather disrupted the installation schedule.
The relationship continued through training and ongoing support after the system went live. Caddo Parish gained a modern Emergency Operations Center built around the way its team works.
Just as importantly, it gained a technology partner that stayed engaged, adapted the process when necessary, and helped turn the original vision into reality.
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