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.