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911 Switchover Is Complete

911 Switchover Is Complete


By David Howell

Editor

 

WATER VALLEY – The county’s 911 emergency calls are now flowing through the sheriff’s department following a changeover on October 1. The change occurred after the county purchased a new PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) as part of the dispatching center at the new county jail.


Previously 911 calls dialed anywhere in the county were answered at the Water Valley Police Department and callers needing a deputy, ambulance, county fire unit or Oakland or Coffeeville police response were rolled over to the county dispatcher, who then dispatched the appropriate responder.


With the change, the 911 call will ring at the dispatch center at the jail, allowing the dispatcher to immediately dispatch emergency response via radio with the exception of a caller needing police response in Water Valley. These calls will be transferred to the police department, and a city dispatcher will dispatch the officer on duty.


Before the switchover, eight full-time and three part-time county dispatchers underwent a three-hour training course prior to October 1, to learn how to use the state-of-the-art system which allows dispatchers to see most cell phone caller’s actual location on a mapping system integrated with the new system.


EMA Director Frank Hyde updated supervisors on the changeover during the “first Monday” meeting held Oct. 5 at the Water Valley.


Hyde explained calls transferred to Water Valley Police department will temporarily go to an existing department line until the city gets a dedicated 911 line. Hyde also said the city will have to purchase additional equipment to allow the caller’s information to  be transferred along with the 911 phone call from the county to the city.


“All 911 calls inside (Water Valley) city limits will be transferred from the county to the city with exception of fire and EMS (medical),” Hyde explained. Hyde said the county was already dispatching EMS calls inside Water Valley before the October 1st switchover. He also told supervisors that Water Valley Fire Chief Sherman Gooch requested fire calls to be dispatched by the county.


“He wanted it direct, which will save time,” Hyde said about the fire calls.


“Which is the right decision to make. Is that not the case with the police?” District 3 Supervisor Lee McMinn asked.


“That’s right, that is the way they wanted,” Hyde explained, referring to a recent meeting held with city officials in which he was instructed to transfer police calls instead of allowing county dispatchers to dispatch city police in Water Valley.


“That’s not my call,” Hyde added.


“We’ve got people sitting there running that state-of-the-art system. I don’t understand it but I am not supposed to,” Board President Tommy Vaughn added.


In other business discussed at Monday’s meeting:


Supervisors renewed the contract for Code Red, an automated weather alert system that provides location-specific warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms or flash floods.


The system was implemented in the county last year and allows citizens to sign for the alert service and receive a phone call on their land line or cell phone or a text with an alert. The county’s investment in this service is $1,500 annually. County residents can sign up for the alerts online at ncpdd.org by clicking on the Code Red Icon and entering their address, name and phone number.


Hyde recommended renewing the service.


“The good thing is that we have not had to use it,” Hyde also said, referring low tornadic activity during the last year. Hyde also explained the service is geared toward senior citizens, who may not use cell phones that already offer similar alerts.


Hyde also explained the advantage of the system is the alert is only sent if the weather emergency is in the county.


• Signed an agreement with Water Valley School District for the school resource office. An annual agreement, Sheriff Lance Humphreys explained the school pays for 10 months of the deputy’s salary and the sheriff’s department picks up the remaining months.


• Signed a board order authorizing Mississippi State University to advertise for the position of office associate for the Extension Service. The position will be vacated after Lisa Dudley is leaving the position to take another job. Dudley has worked at the Extension Service for five years.


• Appointed Earlene Towns to serve on the county’s library board for a five year term starting October 1. Towns will replace Mamie Shields, who was stepping down.


• Appointed Ethel Jenkins to serve as a board member on CMI (Central Mississippi Inc.).


In addition to all five supervisors, District 5 supervisor elect Gaylon Gray, District 2 supervisor candidate Ken Rogers and District 1 supervisor candidate Cayce Washington also attended.

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