Mutual Aid with COTAK

The COTAK system is now capable of supporting mutual aid, meaning that multiple agencies can use COTAK to access a common channel in the app and view the locations of first responders from all agencies involved in an operation. COTAK currently has statewide mutual aid channels for law enforcement, wildland fire, and snowstorm operations. Mutual aid channels for smaller counties or regions of the state can be created as well.

The way mutual aid works in COTAK is through the creation of "parent" entities, which can have multiple agencies as their "children." One or more channels can be created in the parent, and all children agencies automatically are given access to these channels. 

For example a county can be a parent entity, and within that county the three fire departments, two police departments, and the sheriff's office can all be designated as children of the county. Then COTAK creates a county "owned" channel in TAK called "County MAC" and this channel automatically becomes available to any first responder in the six agencies within that county. This channel can be turned on or off by each first responder depending on their needs.

Contact the COTAK project team at support@cotak.gov if you would like to learn more or have mutual aid deployed in your area of Colorado.