Print
Entrepreneurs

CEA Professional Services Winner: Making Essential Safety Agency Software

By Johanna Cano, posted May 5, 2023
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL | Co-Founders Scott Monroe, CEO & Preston Stackhouse, CFO | Year Founded: 2020 | Employees: 12 (Photo by Logan Burke)
Two firefighters took their experience on the field to create a new software product aimed at providing performance management and safety/wellness for public safety agencies.

Co-founder and CEO Scott Monroe and CFO and co-founder Preston Stackhouse, who have both worked for the Wilmington Fire Department, partnered to launch Essential Personnel in 2020. Stackhouse currently works at the department as a fire lieutenant.

Monroe, having been with the fire department for seven years and in the Marine Corps for 19, found that the two organizations were opposites when it came to how they handle performance development and people data.

“The military has a complete and holistic understanding of their people and what they’re good at, their strengths, their weaknesses, what they’ve done, awards, they track for mental health and physical wellbeing, injuries, exposures and critical incidents, if you’re dealing with stressors in your life,” Monroe said. “And then I come on the job as a fireman, and they have none of that data.”

This is what inspired Monroe to create a software product that provides a holistic view of employees within a municipal department. 

Essential Personnel is a software-as-a-service product for public safety agencies such as fire, law enforcement, EMS and 911. The product has three pillars: Perform, Safety & Wellness and Academy.

Perform provides personnel evaluation using metrics, team organization and management, qualification and certification tracking, an award system and employee performance profiles. 

Safety & Wellness helps leaders automatically track critical incidents, injuries and exposures and provides safety and wellness resources. 

And Academy houses continuing education courses, training and more.

“The big takeaway is that this is helping them with team building, it’s enhancing morale, internal communication, career development and mental wellbeing,” Monroe said.

Essential Personnel got an additional confirmation of the need for this type of product when the N.C. Senate passed legislation in 2021 about criminal justice reform that, among other things, requires law enforcement officers to receive training on mental health and wellness strategies. It also requires law enforcement agencies to create an early warning system within the agency to monitor actions including discharge of a firearm, use of force, vehicle collisions and citizen complaints.

Essential Personnel’s tools have capabilities for both of those requirements.

Currently, the software is used in nine states, and Monroe said the startup most recently onboarded the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office.

In growing the company, Monroe would like to continue its focus on serving public safety agencies but has also unlocked municipal governments as a new market.

“We’re really excited,” he said, “to break into the entire municipal government space.”

Click here to view all of the 2023 CEA winners

Ico insights

INSIGHTS

SPONSORS' CONTENT
Jasonpathfinder3

What You Need to Know About SECURE 2.0 and Its Effect on Retirement Plans

Jason Wheeler - Pathfinder Wealth Consulting
Georgiarowe

Salling and Tate Dentistry Launches Annual "Gunner’s Runners" Shoe Collection Event, Aiming to Surpass Last Year's Success

Georgia Rowe - Wide Open Tech
Mcwhorter 0005

The Coastal Corridor is Helping Wilmington Startups With Connected Devices for Life Sciences Industry

Heather McWhorter - UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Trending News

Conservation Group Signs $8M Deal To Buy The Point On Topsail Island

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

National Organization Bestows Top Award On Cape Fear Professional Women In Building

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

Engineering Firm Hires Four Employees

Staff Reports - Mar 26, 2024

N.C. Ports Officials React To Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 26, 2024

NCino's Fourth-quarter Earnings Signal Rebound From Liquidity Crisis

Audrey Elsberry - Mar 27, 2024

In The Current Issue

INFO JUNKIE: Jack Fleming

Jack Fleming, owner of Socialry Marketing & Scourz and emcee for 1 Million Cups Wilmington, shares his media and tech picks....


MADE: Polyhose Inc.

Polyhose manufactures and fabricates hose protection, paint hose assemblies and rubber hydraulic assemblies from its Pender County facility....


Q&A: Andrews Reflects On Leadership

Pender County Manager David Andrews is slated to retire this summer after 33 years in local government....

Book On Business

The 2024 WilmingtonBiz: Book on Business is an annual publication showcasing the Wilmington region as a center of business.

Order Your Copy Today!


Galleries

Videos

2023 Power Breakfast: Major Developments