Case Study: Dithridge Street Parking Garage achieves rapid, reliable emergency voice communications and faster police response with Desktop Alert

Emergency Voice Communications for Public Parking Garages

Dithridge Street Parking Garage, an eight‑floor public garage in Oakland owned by the University of Pittsburgh, faced ineffective panic‑button alarms that produced localized strobes few people noticed. Seeking near‑instant voice contact with University Police and the ability to broadcast targeted emergency instructions, the garage engaged Desktop Alert to modernize its emergency communications using the Metis Secure Emergency Communications System.

Desktop Alert replaced old buttons with networked Metis Secure Help Stations—hands‑free voice links to University Police, battery backup power, Ethernet with a redundant wireless mesh, and daisy‑chained network switches to minimize wiring—managed via map‑based Metis Secure Command Center software. As a result, University Police can connect with callers in seconds, automatically pinpoint call locations, send floor‑ or site‑specific alerts, monitor device health and tampering, and generate call logs, while installation time and costs were kept low by the Desktop Alert deployment.