CrossWind Technologies: Charting a Next Chapter in Public Safety Tech

Modern public safety runs on data. Whether responding to large-scale emergencies or routine incidents, agencies must be able to access and share accurate, real-time information across jurisdictions, roles, and systems. However, legacy platforms were not built for this level of coordination, leaving teams struggling with fragmented data, slow communication, and siloed operations that delay response and obscure critical details.

What is needed is a solution designed for high-performance, real-time, multi-agency collaboration, with data sharing and interoperability at its core. This means giving every participant, from dispatchers to field officers to records staff, access to the same live information, in the same view, at the same time, regardless of agency boundaries.

To fill this need, CrossWind Technologies created Valcour Cloud Public Safety™, a cloud-native SaaS solution purpose-built to support the unique demands of sworn and non-sworn safety agencies.

Designed from the ground up and informed by firsthand experience working with law enforcement agencies, Valcour enables real-time collaboration, streamlines daily operations, and breaks down data silos. It also ensures that everyone, from dispatch to records to command staff, has access to the same live information, all in one place. Beyond improving operational efficiency, it delivers reporting tools that help agencies proactively identify trends, allocate resources, and strengthen overall public safety strategy.

Guided by a mission to deliver simple, effective solutions using leading-edge technology, the company prioritizes open, standards-based systems that offer high performance, efficient integration, and a low cost of ownership. CrossWind’s development and business approach focuses on selecting technologies that are both practical and powerful to ensure its solutions evolve with the needs of those they serve.

A Need, a Bold Vision, and the Genesis of Valcour

In line with its mission, CrossWind began developing the first fully web-enabled Cloud Public Safety solution for law enforcement in 2010. The Chief at Burlington, VT Police Department, Michael Schirling, had recently abandoned two major legacy Public Safety platforms due to inefficiencies. Frustrated, he issued an RFP for a system built from the ground up, and CrossWind was selected. He envisioned a cloud-based solution that was easy to use and eliminated redundant entry, yet enabled real-time data sharing and adapted to a changing law enforcement landscape.

Partnering with the Burlington Police Department, CrossWind combined best practices in Public Safety workflows with modern web development tools to create Valcour Cloud Public Safety™. This collaboration allowed the company to build flexible, user-focused technology and develop lasting partnerships, while deepening its understanding of the challenges public safety agencies face.

That foundation, rooted in mission-critical expertise, technology innovation, and customer focus, continues to guide CrossWind’s public safety work. With Vermont as a real-world development sandbox, the company designs, tests, and refines solutions directly with end users. The result is a product shaped by both technical capability and firsthand knowledge of the demands facing today’s public safety professionals.

“CrossWind stands as a mission-aligned partner to law enforcement agencies. Our customers guide our development with frontline insight; and it’s our job to deliver modern technology that meets their needs today and tomorrow. We ask, we listen, we build,” says Chris Knudsen, CEO and co-founder.

A Platform Designed with Purpose, Shaped by Practice

Valcour’s technical architecture integrates modern technologies like React, GraphQL, Ruby on Rails, MySQL, and JavaScript, along with NoSQL tools such as Redis, Elasticsearch and Memcache. Automated testing frameworks including RSpec, the React Testing Library, and Cucumber help maintain system stability and reliability across both clients and servers.

More importantly, the platform’s development process is shaped through regular collaboration with agency representatives from each agency who serve as active liaisons. These agencies range from small departments to statewide entities, including police, sheriff’s offices, state troopers, and the DMV. This broad involvement ensures the platform supports the operational requirements and diversity of public safety workflow.

What makes this approach particularly effective is the feedback loop it creates. Agency partners bring real-world insights that help the platform evolve alongside emerging challenges, from responding to major incidents like flooding to adapting to new legislative changes.

Another major focus is enabling interagency resource sharing, a growing necessity amid staffing and funding constraints. The system supports coordination across jurisdictions, particularly during large-scale incidents such as multi-vehicle crashes, multiple-alarm fires, or active threat situations. By providing a single shared view of critical calls, the platform allows multiple agencies to align in real time, communicate needs, and manage resources more effectively.

Where High-Stakes Customers Meet Real-Time Crises

CrossWind’s focus on user-driven, mission-critical technology began with its early work in the commercial and community sectors. Its first customers were tech-savvy companies seeking innovative solutions and a shared technical mindset. That foundation led to a growing customer base that included Fortune 500 companies, financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, tech leaders such as Intel, HP, and Siemens, and top universities including MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of California Regents. CrossWind has also served federal agencies including the NSA, the IRS, and the Australian Army.

This mission-critical support experience set the stage for CrossWind’s vital role during a real-world emergency in Vermont.

On July 10, 2023, as flooding intensified in the Winooski River basin, the Barre City Police Department activated its emergency dispatch backup plan.

To maintain operations, Barre City partnered with its designated backup, the Montpelier Police Department. Montpelier accepted the transfer, moving personnel and equipment to its own facility. However, before Barre could update Valcour to allow Montpelier to dispatch their units and create cases, Barre City lost network connectivity at its Emergency Operations Center.
Barre contacted CrossWind, who remotely completed the system switch within minutes, ensuring uninterrupted call recording and dispatch. This seamless handoff demonstrated Valcour’s capacity for coordinated mutual aid under pressure.

When flooding then inundated Montpelier, both Montpelier and Barre needed to relocate the joint dispatch operations to higher ground. Thanks to Valcour, both agencies experienced only brief service gaps of two to three minutes before resuming operations at new sites. Not a single 911 call was dropped.

Expanding Footprint with Purpose and Precision

Building on its success in Vermont, CrossWind is expanding across New England as agencies replace aging legacy systems with modern, interoperable solutions. To meet evolving needs, the company recently introduced an online reporting portal and public data dashboard, easing workloads such as FOIA requests by allowing residents to access incident statistics, submit requests, and complete paperwork online.

Looking ahead, CrossWind’s roadmap includes integrating large language models (LLMs) to enhance case management, pattern recognition, resource allocation, and call-taking. These tools will harness advanced data extraction to further streamline public safety operations.

“CrossWind’s experience shows how domain expertise, purposeful innovation, and user-centered design can transform public safety operations. From crisis-tested resilience to forward-looking features like public dashboards and AI-powered tools, our platform continues to drive the future of emergency response, one agency, one community, one call at a time,” concludes David Wellington, CTO and co-founder.