“Time saves lives,” Milam said. “It is universally understood amongst emergency services in Sebastian County that 911 consolidation will be a benefit to them.”
FORT SMITH, Ark. — In an effort to cut down emergency response times and improve coordination among first responders, Sebastian County and the City of Fort Smith are taking major steps toward opening a consolidated 911 dispatch center.
Emergency calls to 911 in Fort Worth a year ago were answered and serviced in ways very different from such calls made today — differences that, ideally, the caller doesn’t notice.
Chesterton’s Town Council and Chesterton Police Chief Tim Richardson are calling for the immediate resignation of Porter County E-911 Director Debbie Gunn, accusing her of false statements regarding the performance of the Chesterton/Porter joint dispatch center during the June 18 officer-involved shooting.
Fort Smith and Sebastian County are working to consolidate all emergency calls into one location. The City of Fort Smith will operate the new consolidated 911 call center. A board made up of city and county leaders will oversee the facility, but they only have about 18 months to get the new center built and operational. During an emergency, 911 is often the first call for help. Just in Fort Smith alone, dispatchers answered more than 60,000 emergency calls last year.
Reps. VanderWall, Morgan introduce bills creating grant program to modernize public safety communication
Harnessing technology to modernize the way public safety agencies interact and communicate with their citizens is the hallmark of the legislative proposal in House Bills 4661 and 4662.
