It started at a party, with a card game and drinks. A gun came out. Everyone was having fun, passing it around and doing tricks. The gun was loaded and went off and shot one of them in the stomach.Roxanne Van Gundy, the director of the Lyon County Emergency Communications Center, took that call. While the call came in 10 years ago, she remembers it like happened yesterday.”As I came into the situation on 9-1-1, the friend was bleeding profusely,” she said. “The man who shot him was crying and yelling. He was saying that he was going to go to jail. He was going to get fired from his job. He’d lose his child. Throughout the call, the shooter became more and more agitated. He still had the gun in his hands.” While the shooter threatened suicide, Van Gundy walked the called through keeping the victim as stable as possible. “There was a point in the conversation, that I wondered if I should talk to the shooter,” she said. “Could I solve this situation? Could I talk him down? My training said no. Stay with your caller.”The shooting victim survived, Van Gundy said, thanks to the caller’s calm control of the situation. But when emergency crews arrived, the shooter sat on the couch and began to cry.Van Gundy heard her caller unable to get his friend to put down the gun. She heard units arriving at the front door. “In my other ear, I heard a sound that I still remember a decade later,”she said. “The way he sighed right before. I blamed myself for a long time for that man’s death. I know what happened to him was decided by a something much greater than me, but I always felt like I let him down because I didn’t try to talk to him and help him see that everything would work out. I couldn’t tell you the saves I’ve had in 15 years. I’m sure I’ve had some great ones. I just remember the losses.” It’s calls like this one, that stay with dispatchers like Van Gundy and other emergency first responders. But, up until just a few days ago, public safety dispatchers didn’t even have that designation. After more than a year of campaigning and advocating, Kansas 9-1-1 dispatchers have finally received the classification they have been pushing for: the state’s 9-1-1 dispatchers and public safety telecommunicators are officially first responders.The designation was made as part of an amendment to the Emergency Management Act, which Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law late Wednesday night. For Van Gundy, who also serves as vice president of the Kansas chapter of the National Emergency Number Association, it’s been a long and mentally exhausting road to get there. Prior to Wednesday’s signing, Van Gundy said 9-1-1 dispatchers were classified as clerical workers. That may have made sense 68 years ago when 9-1-1 was first established, she said, but technological advances and the training required to become a public safety dispatcher have drastically changed over the years. “This has been something that I felt really passionate about for a lot of years,” she said. “The amount of training that a dispatcher has to have in 2021, clerical is almost laughable.” LCECC Dispatcher Selena Lasser has been answering 9-1-1 calls for 15 years. The calls that stick with her are anything but “clerical.” “I remember it was spring of 2011, I remember it was second shift on a Saturday night, I even remember the partners I was working with at the time,” she said. “I remember answering 9-1-1 and a woman hysterically screaming that her 2-year-old son was choking on food. He wasn’t awake, he wasn’t breathing. I started CPR instructions hoping to hear that sweet baby boy cry. Nothing.”Lasser walked the mother through lifesaving measures for 20 excruciating minutes. The “For 20 minutes, I only heard the screaming of a mother begging for child to wake up,” she said. “Those 20 minutes seemed to last 20 hours. I still cry for that little baby boy.”A seat at the tableVan Gundy has worked as a public safety dispatcher since 2005, starting her career with the Emporia Police Department. After moving to Alaska in 2009 and several years working with the Alaska State Troopers, she returned to Kansas and local dispatch. She took over LCECC’s director in 2018 and has been heavily involved in the efforts to reclassify dispatchers’ status. She said a clear need for reclassification came last year when the COVID-19 pandemic forced statewide shutdowns. Emergency first responders were eligible for priority testing when test supplies were being rationed early on, but dispatchers weren’t included in that group — even though they were working closely with law enforcement, fire departments and more. Van Gundy asked if dispatchers were included in that group.”The state came back and said, ‘You know, you have a really important job, but not important enough for priority testing,'” she said. “Then the CARES Act happened where it was day care reimbursement that was just for first responders. Well, what about our employees that are still coming in and leaving their families? Well, you had to call everybody under the sun to see if we were a part of that.” Vaccinations were the next big question. “It would have eliminated a lot of confusion if we were listed in the Emergency Management Act before this all started,” Van Gundy said. “I think the culture of law enforcement and fire and EMS, it shifted from, ‘dispatch just answers the phones,’ to they looked at us like we’re first responders already. It gets really difficult when we have to fight with everyone else to say, ‘Hey, we do a first responder job. We are first responders.'”‘We’re not gonna stop’Cassandra Grimm remembered a series of calls that began in Dec. 2014, starting when a man called 9-1-1 to say he had found his friend not breathing and turning blue. Grimm started providing CPR instructions while her partners got the ambulance out. The address, she said, was in northern Lyon County and she stayed on the line for close to 20 minutes providing lifesaving instructions. “He survived,” Grimm said. “In April of 2016, I get a call from the wife of the same man I helped save in Dec. 2014. Again, in the northern part of Lyon County. I walked her through step-by-step instructions having her perform CPR on her husband. He survived.”Grimm was scheduled to work in March 2018 but called in. She was sick. A 9-1-1 call came into dispatch. It was the same man she’d helped those two times before. “He was at work and they were given CPR instructions,” she said. “He didn’t make it. I’ve asked myself what would have happened if I had gone to work. Would I have answered the call? Would he still be here if I was there? After the call in Dec. of 2014 I got to meet him and his family in Jan. of 2015. I was his first responder.”It’s memories like this, Van Gundy said, that will keep organizations like NENA and the Public Safety Communications Officials will keep advocating for public safety dispatchers in other states that have not yet received first responder designation. And, they will keep pushing to make positive gains for dispatchers through trainings, resources and further advocacy.It’s rare that someone is calling 9-1-1 on their happiest days, Van Gundy said. And that wears on the 15 dispatchers that takes shifts at LCECC. “They’re not just robots,” she said. “They’re all humans and they all struggle. … They’re hearing everyone’s worst day for 12 hours a day.” “We’re not gonna stop,” she said. “Our goal in Kansas is to work to make the lives of our membership better. So this is step one. There’s some legislation that was introduced this year on PTSD as a worker’s comp claim — that’s huge for us because we’re experiencing PTSD in the center and 20-30% nationwide. We want to work to advocate to be included in things like that. I think mental health is a good first step.”

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Melanie Bergers called Wednesday “a historic day” in Kansas history.On Wednesday, they officially became classified as “emergency responders” under Senate Bill 40, which was signed into law by Gov. Laura Kelly.The bill, which reforms to the Kansas Emergency Management Act, was passed March 16 in a bipartisan vote of 31-8.Bergers is the director of communications for the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center, which handles all 911 calls in Topeka and Shawnee County.She said dispatchers in Kansas are often the first point of contact for people reporting emergencies.She said efforts have been underway “for a long time” to have dispatchers included in the group of “emergency responders” as they play a vital role in the communities they serve.“This doesn’t change their classification at a federal level,” Bergers said, “but it does give them the recognition and the title that they deserve. They work very, very hard, and they are the first first-responders to every emergency that comes into our center, and oftentimes, they’re able to take care of that emergency without a responder.”Bergers said the dispatchers undergo extensive training to be able to do their jobs, helping them stay calm in the most difficult of circumstances.“We have dispatchers that perform CPR, that can help a suicidal caller who might be just having a terrible day and this is their last person — that they just need some help to get to the right resources,” Berger said. “A mom who’s called and her baby’s not breathing. Or somebody’s found that their house has been broken into.“Those dispatchers are a calm voice when somebody is having probably the worst day of their life, while they are dispatching resources and really orchestrating every response that responders go to.”Bergers said on Thursday she was still excited about the state officially including dispatchers among other emergency responders.“This is a historical day in Kansas,” Bergers said. “There are several other states out there that have fought to get appropriate recognition for their dispatchers, and our professional organizations have worked tirelessly over the last few years.“We really came together and found ways to make this happen, and I’m very proud of our 911 professionals throughout the entire state. We have an incredible group of people. They always come together and they find a way to make it happen.”Brown County Sheriff John Merchant on Thursday said the inclusion of dispatchers being classified as “emergency responders” was “great news” and was the culmination of “many years” of efforts.Merchant noted that dispatchers “receive calls reporting everything from littering to homicides.” Unlike other emergency responders, however, the dispatchers remain at their stations.Merchant said the bill not only recognizes dispatchers for their “incredible efforts in keeping our communities safe, but also opens doors for them to obtain services needed to better perform their duties.”Merchant added that he was “very appreciative that dispatchers are being recognized for the truly remarkable jobs that they do.”According to a section of the SB 40, emergency responders include: law enforcement officers; firefighters; 911 call-takers; emergency medical services personnel; physicians; nurses; physician assistants; public health personnel; emergency management personnel; public works personnel; and individuals with skills or training in operating specialized equipment needed to provide aid in a declared emergency.Other components of the bill include measures that: end all coronavirus-related statewide mandates on March 31; prohibit the governor from closing businesses, civil organizations and churches.; establish due process rights for Kansans “aggrieved” by an order; and preserve local control of schools.Copyright 2021 WIBW. All rights reserved.

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SNOW HILL – Increases in proposed public safety and emergency services spending highlighted a Worcester County budget work session.The Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday met with department leaders to begin reviewing the proposed fiscal year 2022 budget. General fund revenues for the coming year are estimated at $211 million while proposed expenditures total $219 million.The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office and Worcester County Emergency Services are both seeking an increase in funding in the coming year in efforts to ensure public safety.“We have over eight million visitors per summer and we need our residents and visitors to feel safe and secure if we want to maintain Worcester County as a national landmark,” Sheriff Matt Crisafulli said.
Crisafulli has proposed a budget of $9.7 million — a $2.2 million increase over the current year’s budget — for the coming fiscal year. The nearly 30% increase in funding would allow his department to hire three new deputies and convert seven part-time positions to full-time. The additional manpower will ensure that there’s adequate police coverage when other officers are at mandated training and will also enable the office to assist allied agencies better, according to Crisafulli.“Outside of Ocean City, our office handled more than 50% of the total law enforcement calls for service last year and we project that that number’s going to increase due to a continued staffing issue throughout the county,” he said. “As I’ve mentioned previously, recruitment is a national issue that all law enforcement agencies are dealing with.”He added that West Ocean City was growing and was at the point it needed a dedicated patrol unit.Crisafulli’s proposed budget also includes funding for 18 replacement vehicles, vehicles for the potential three new deputies and funding for an armored rescue vehicle that could be used in a hostage standoff or natural disaster.“I know some of the critics say this is militarizing the police however this is just not true,” he said. “Adding a rescue vehicle doesn’t change our approach to community based policing. These vehicles are used to protect deputies and civilians in hostile situations with armed subjects and to rescue people in all kinds of potentially dangerous conditions. The sheriff’s office can use the rescue vehicle as an ambulance during a hurricane. And when a severe weather tears through our community, what kind of vehicle do you want to respond to your neighborhood?”He added that the vehicle could be used by officers responding to unruly crowds in Ocean City and would also be useful during hurricanes and potential flooding.Emergency Services Director Billy Birch told the commissioners his department was seeking an additional $1,062,824 in the coming year, bringing the department’s budget to $3.8 million.  Much of that increase—$580,000—would pay for capital equipment meant to address radio interference problems.“That’s an awful lot of money,” Commissioner Josh Nordstrom said.James Hamilton, the department’s assistant director, said the new equipment was needed to address interference problem the county’s radio system has been dealing with for several years.“Our radio system is impacted by signals that travel farther than they should,” he said. “It’s getting worse, not better.”Additional funding in the department’s proposed budget would allow for the hiring of six new employees.

AT&T has added a new cell tower to enhance Coon Rapids’ 4G LTE coverage.As part of its network enhancements, the company says it is bringing Band 14 to the area. Band 14 is a nationwide, high-quality spectrum set aside by the government for the public safety communications platform called FirstNet. In an emergency, this band can be cleared and locked just for FirstNet subscribers.FirstNet is built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority. It’s designed to help first responders in Minnesota and across the country connect to the information they need, when they need it.

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. – The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) today officially activated the county’s new public safety communications system. The new 800-megahertz P25 digital communications system replaces the county’s 25-year-old system to provide enhanced radio coverage and interoperability for the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, fire departments, rescue squads and county government agencies.

“The vital importance of radio communications for emergency personnel cannot be overstated,” said BOCC President Earl F. “Buddy” Hance. “This new system will provide a new level of safety and service that our citizens and first responders deserve.”

“The old system has served us well, but we are excited for the increased coverage and capabilities that the new system provides,” said Public Safety Director Jackie Vaughan. “In addition, Calvert County will maintain full control of the entire system, including the new towers and radios, and the technology is protected against obsolescence so we can expect this new system to serve the needs of our citizens and first responders for the next 20 years.”

A $21.4 million contract was awarded to Motorola Solutions, Inc. in early 2016 and was the largest single contract Calvert County has ever awarded.

Tower construction and equipment installation began in 2017 and system testing began in 2019. Five existing towers were replaced, four new towers were constructed and communications equipment was installed on other existing structures throughout the county.

With a total of 15 sites, the new system provides more reliable in-building coverage, increases the number of available communications channels from five to 10, and provides 1,200 new mobile and portable radios to first responders and public safety personnel.

The system is also designed to enable police and fire departments to better communicate with other local, state and federal agencies when a multi-jurisdictional response is required.

In addition to 20-year maintenance and life cycle protection, the system comes with new features, such as GIS mapping with automatic emergency personnel location and “man down” emergency alerts.

Cops should be on the same page soon in Greenwood County.Plans to approve a uniform, countywide digital records management system will make it easier for officers to share information with one another at a moment’s notice.Currently, officers of the Greenwood Police Department and Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office use the same RMS, which allows them to see each others’ calls and know who is responding to which emergency.“Ninety Six PD, Ware Shoals PD — they all have their own RMS, so we can’t see their reports,” said Jonathan Link, Greenwood Police Department public information officer.RMS software allows for officers to have a computer in their patrol cars that receive information directly from 911 dispatchers, and to share information about the calls they’re on with other officers on patrol. The location, status and call information of each 911 call is available to officers on their screen, and the information they put into the system is visible by other officers using the same system.Recently, Greenwood County Council unanimously voted to allow the county to contract with Caliber Public Safety for a new, countywide RMS. The contract will unify the jail, sheriff’s office, Greenwood police department, Ware Shoals and Ninety Six under the same system, for a total cost of $540,000. The price tag came up less than half of the more than $1.3 million allocated for the project.“Not only is it going to save the county $750,000 from what we budgeted,” Link said, “but one of the big things we’ve fought with is that company A makes the dispatch software, while company B makes the RMS software.”Currently, the software used to transfer date from dispatchers to officers in the field differs from the software officers use in their patrol vehicles, Link said. The issue is that the two systems aren’t perfectly aligned, so some information from one software system doesn’t transmit easily to the other system. To solve for that, the company that makes the RMS system designed a third piece of software — an interface that allows the two systems to communicate with one another.Under the countywide agreement with Caliber, the dispatch and RMS systems will transfer data seamlessly, Link said. The software is also cloud based, meaning the data itself isn’t stored on the officers’ computers or on a server at the law enforcement agency’s offices. Instead, the data is stored on a server managed by Caliber, and officers log into the system online.Link said the Caliber system follows FBI and federal standards for data security.“I’m 100% on board,” said Bryan Louis, Ware Shoals police chief. “It interlocks us in with the other agencies.”When Greenwood County deputies respond to a 911 call near Ware Shoals, Ware Shoals officers would be able to see the details of that call under a unified system. Now, with separate systems, officers have to call in to dispatch to get information from other agencies — a countywide, uniform RMS instead puts that information in the officers’ patrol cars.Ninety Six Police Chief Chris Porter said what he’s seen of the system seems to work smoothly, and he’s excited about the information-sharing capabilities under a uniform system. If Ninety Six officers arrest someone in a burglary case, they can easily check to see if similar burglaries have been reported to other agencies on the same system, to see whether a suspect is connected to cases being investigated by other agencies.“It’ll cut down on a lot of on-air time and radio traffic,” he said. “I think it’ll make the community a lot safer. We’ve been talking about this for years, but didn’t have the up-front cash to do it.”The move to a countywide RMS stems from a project approved under the 2016 Capital Project Sales Tax.“Law enforcement is an intelligence-driven business, and we rely on intel,” Link said. “Having all the major players in Greenwood County on the same system is going to make sharing that information a lot easier.”

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Tucson Unified School Safety Department announced Tuesday it received a grant from the U.S Department of Justice to create a program for enhaced security at schools and school facilities.In October 2019, the safety department was awarded a grant of $525,000 under the 2019 COPS Office School Violence Prevention Program, according to a press release from TUSD. The COPS program was made to enhance security within school campuses and school facilities.With the grant, TUSD enrolled into a county-wide association for public safety and public service agencies called the Pima County Wireless Integrated Network, according to TUSD. In October 2020, the program created, added to services in the TUSD community, by regulating public safety communications in the county and broaden safety in the community.The funds allowed the safety department to buy public safety grade radios, which allows TUSD to communicate with police, fire and public services in any emergency.In February 2021, the safety department’s dispatchers were given a dispatch room at Menlo Park School.
The TUSD Department of School Safety’s mission is to create and maintain a safe and secure educational climate for all students and staff members, through the protection of life and property, the resolution of conflict and the proactive reduction of opportunities for the commission of crime on all district property. Tucson Unified School District is proud to work together with law enforcement agencies on potential or real emergencies to ensure the safety of every child in our community.

Fire chief Scott Atkins said Dadeville Volunteer Fire Department will have to scrape by on a weak radio channel for another few months after learning what the cost of repair would be.”I finally got a quote back late yesterday and I’m afraid it’s not going to be an option,” Atkins told the mayor and city council Tuesday. “The total quote was $20,000.”Atkins said the quote includes $15,000 in parts and $5,000 in labor, which would involve climbing the water tower behind the fire station where the broken antenna is located. Upon hearing the price, Mayor Jimmy Frank Goodman loudly cleared his throat while several other meeting attendees dramatically clutched their chests.  Earlier this month, the new fire chief approached the mayor and city council to address several issues he’d discovered, including the fact the fire department has been relying on weak radio communications ever since its main radio antenna was storm-damaged in April.”We have had communication problems,” Atkins said at the March 9 council meeting. “We cannot talk to one another.”For the past 11 months, the fire department has been using a different radio channel with a shorter tower that does not reach its entire coverage area, Atkins reported. While Tallapoosa County’s E 9-1-1 emergency dispatch system will soon be updated to a new digitized system, that update is several months away.Earlier this month, Atkins said the update wasn’t expected for another five months at least.”I can’t wait till August to have communications; we’ve got to be able to talk,” he said. At the time, Atkins expected it to cost between $500 and $5,000.On Tuesday, however, Atkins said the new system was only two or three months away, making the $20,000 repair not worth it.”If this was going to be a system that we’d use for years and years and years that would be one thing, but we’re just trying to make it until the county swaps over to the new system which will be two or three months,” he said. “So, I don’t see spending the $20,000 for just two or three months.”Atkins said he had one more solution to look into but “I guess right now we’re stuck with what we’ve got,” he said.Atkins, formerly assistant fire chief at Opelika Fire Department, was appointed Dadeville fire chief on March 3. His appointment filled a vacancy left by former fire chief Keith Wilkerson who the council removed by unanimous vote last month.Later in the meeting, Goodman thanked Atkins and the fire and police departments in general in his mayor’s remarks. Goodman also assured Atkins his lack of funds wasn’t a lack of endorsement.”(Atkins) has found a couple of the firetrucks that are in danger of needing work real bad, tires and so forth,” Goodman said. “Chief, you’re doing a good job, just don’t get discouraged. We move slow because we are short of funds. But we are definitely behind you 100%.”The mayor told the fire chief he only refuses to pay for some things “because we write the check and they throw it back at us.”Goodman also addressed some complaints about the police department he said he received over the weekend.”Unfortunately, it was some of my folks that did this,” Goodman said. “But you can’t pick your family. But if we all just worked together, try to come together as one, and treat everybody the way that they need to be treated, let’s let the police do their job; let’s let the fire department do their job.”

A special committee to study the feasibility of moving the city’s current in-house police dispatch to the Niagara County Sheriff’s Office is being formed immediately, according to Mayor Michelle Roman.Roman said the committee will include aldermen, representatives of the city’s police and fire boards, police and fire unions, county legislators and representatives of other nearby municipalities.The move is in direct response to a recommendation made late last week by State Attorney General Letitia James, who released a detailed report on policing and dispatch actions taken by Lockport Police Department and Niagara County Sheriff’s personnel on the night of Troy Hodge’s death in the city in June of 2019.
While James concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish any crime was committed by responding Lockport officers nor Niagara County Sheriff’s deputies, she also “encouraged” the LPD to discontinue its in-house 911 dispatch operations and use the Niagara County Central Dispatch Center.Alderman Rick Abbott said Tuesday that he was planning to bring the dispatch move up for discussion at the very next council work session. It was originally talked about at length a few years ago, he said, during the last contract negotiations between the city and its police union. At that time, Abbott said the sheriff’s department and county officials negotiated a new dispatch agreement with then mayor Dave Wohleben.“They said they would provide the service for free and committed to giving the city its own dedicated phone line,” Abbott said.“The Attorney General’s report says we should have services go to the county. They have a state-of-the-art communications room. The equipment we have (at the LPD) is 30 years old. It made sense then and it makes sense now.”City Clerk Paul Oates said the current city/police union contract was ratified in 2016 and expires Dec. 31, 2023.Abbott said he thought the dispatch move was a done deal, but it subsequently nixed by the city’s police union, which included in its new contract the stipulation that any such move would need to be negotiated first with the Lockport Police Benevolent Association.“We can’t afford as a city to upgrade our system,” Abbott said, estimating the costs anywhere between a quarter million to a half million dollars. “We would still need to absorb the start-up cost for radios and computers, but this way we get more cops out on the streets.”

ANN ARBOR, MI — Ann Arbor officials have laid out a proposal for an unarmed public safety response program to have non-police professionals respond to certain 911 calls.Mayor Christopher Taylor and other City Council members are co-sponsoring a resolution on the council’s April 5 agenda to direct City Administrator Tom Crawford to establish a program by the end of the year in collaboration with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office and others.If the resolution is approved, Crawford would be tasked with exploring opportunities for unarmed responses to calls through Metro 911, possibly forming partnerships with community service providers and identifying which responses now handled by armed police could be carried out by experts in areas such as mental health, public health and human services.That could include handling non-emergency medical calls, complaints about homeless encampments, medical transport requests, some mental health crisis calls and similar calls with no suspected criminal activity or clear and present threat to the physical safety of others, the resolution states.“Police officers everywhere are tasked to perform many functions better suited for non-police persons with expertise in public health, mental health and human services,” Taylor said. “We recognize that challenge and are looking for ways to effect a continuum of response so that we can better serve people during calls for service that do not require police officer involvement.”The resolution directs the city administrator to include funds for such a program in the 2021-22 budget.If such a program is not possible by the end of 2021, Taylor and council members want the administrator to report back on any obstacles and recommendations for overcoming them.They also want the city’s police oversight commission to be consulted in the process.The first four council members to sign on as co-sponsors with Taylor are Erica Briggs, Jen Eyer, Travis Radina and Linh Song.Radina, D-3rd Ward, said he spoke with residents on the campaign trail last year about the need to fundamentally change the city’s approach to policing and public safety.“This resolution is a critically important step in that direction and will hopefully help to rebuild community trust,” he said. “For far too many of our neighbors – especially some BIPOC, LGBTQ and neuro-diverse residents – the presence of armed police does not make them feel safer in our community.”Ann Arbor survey shows disparity in how white and Black residents feel treated by policeBy reimagining Ann Arbor’s public safety model to include a response from public health, mental health and human services professionals when appropriate, the city can divert more residents from the criminal justice system and get them the support and resources they need, Radina said.Song, D-2nd Ward, said the resolution is about matching services to needs.“In conversations with Asian and Asian American community members and leaders, it’s clear how there’s a hesitancy to engage the police, even in the wake of hate crimes and harassment,” she said. “I hope we can demonstrate a more expansive understanding of policing as it impacts communities of color. This would be a good start.”The resolution was developed in collaboration with the city administrator and Police Chief Michael Cox, and Washtenaw County Community Mental Health and the Sheriff’s Office have reviewed it and expressed support, Taylor said, adding he also has spoken with county officials and has reason to hope there will be a mirroring county resolution.Taylor said he’s optimistic that, with collaborative relationships among Ann Arbor police, Community Mental Health and the Sheriff’s Office, they’ll be able to launch a program that gets people the help they need and improves public safety.The city does not provide direct public health, mental health or human services programs and those services instead are provided by Community Mental Health, the Washtenaw County Health Department, the county’s Office of Community and Economic Development and nonprofit agencies.The successful deployment of non-police responders will require close coordination with Metro 911 dispatch, law enforcement and other agencies, the resolution states, noting dispatch services are provided by the Sheriff’s Office.The Ann Arbor Police Department and Community Mental Health already partner via a crisis support team to coordinate responses to calls for service involving people in mental health crisis, and the city supports community members who need access to services, avoiding incarceration when possible, the resolution states.Officials now want to expand on that to have more responses to 911 calls by non-police professionals with extensive training and expertise in different areas.“During even non-confrontational police-public interactions involving public health, mental health and human service needs, the presence of a holstered firearm may give rise to feelings of unease and intimidation, particularly among persons from BIPOC communities,” the resolution states, adding civilian fatalities and injuries have resulted from police engaging people with mental illness when police response was not necessary.MORE FROM THE ANN ARBOR NEWS:Ann Arbor residents can call 911 to report abandoned rental scooters, officials sayRecords shed more light on outcomes of citizen complaints against Ann Arbor policeAnn Arbor PFAS levels rise again. City says it’s coming from Wixom.Judge signals intent to order cleanup plan in Ann Arbor dioxane pollution caseEPA open to Superfund cleanup in Ann Arbor if state is on board

The Larimer County commissioners voted Tuesday to contribute $250,000 toward completion of a backup dispatch center that will benefit emergency agencies across the county.The Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority is creating the backup at its new offices at the 2534 development in Johnstown — a building that it shares with the Larimer County Emergency Operations Center that is expected to open this summer.
The telephone authority, a governing body that administers 911 programs for all emergency agencies within the county, is on the second floor of a two-story building. Officials’ plan is to create a backup dispatch center at that site that can be used by any emergency agency as needed.
A dispatch center answers 911 calls and ensures that police, fire and medical crews respond to help.
“It helps to take that load off any one dispatch center,” said Lori Hodges, the county’s director of emergency management.
Right now, there are five dispatch centers that operate within Larimer County — Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Collins, Loveland and Estes Park police departments and at Colorado State University. If one is overloaded with calls or physically evacuated, the others step in to help and give dispatchers a place to work.
Over the summer, when the town of Estes Park was evacuated due to wildfires, its dispatch center was relocated to Fort Collins’ 911 call center because the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office was already handling a large number of calls related to the two raging fires.
The system works, but not seamlessly, because there is time needed to set up dispatchers from one center into another, to get them in place in a new location, explained Kimberly Culp, chief executive officer of LETA.
“They fold into the operation,” Culp said. “They have to sit down at someone else’s console, someone else’s equipment. … It isn’t in the ready position.”
Plus throw in the pandemic — a time when emergency operations were trying to keep outside or new people from entering the dispatch centers, to keep distance and safety precautions.
This backup center will be available if a dispatch center needs to evacuate, if agencies need extra work stations to have extra dispatchers on duty during an event, or if officials need to move dispatch for one major emergency to a separate location, said Culp.
It will ensure that, no matter what happens, dispatch service will continue without interruption for all communities within the county, Hodges said.
“If we have learned anything from the challenges presented to us in 2020, it is that we must have continuity in our critical systems, and we must be able to adapt to a changing environment,” according to memo given to the county commissioners about the contribution.
“Larimer County is rapidly evolving, and the population of Larimer County is expected to increase by 25% by the year 2040 for a total population of 480,126,” the memo stated.
The Larimer Emergency Telephone Authority is building the dispatch center and outfitting it with equipment at its new location in Johnstown with hopes of having it ready this summer, available to spring into action when needed. The cost is $1.3 million, most of which will come out of the authority’s budget and with the $250,000 from Larimer County.
The telephone authority is funded by a monthly surcharge all customers pay on each mobile phone, internet or land line. In Larimer County, the 911 surcharge fee is 70 cents, which Culp said is much lower than the average $1.35 fee among other regions in Colorado.
“We’ve been planning and saving,” said Culp. “This is a critical need we’ve been planning for.”
The $250,000 that Larimer County is contributing will come out of the money set aside to build and open the emergency operations center. With efficiencies and grants, the county will not use the entire budgeted amount, and the commissioners voted 3-0 on Tuesday to give some of the surplus to the dispatch center project.
Culp said the county’s contribution will pay for critical radio equipment for the backup center, which should be open in July. And once opened, officials said, it will benefit the entire community.
“The public benefit is obvious,” said County Manager Linda Hoffmann.
“It’s just without question that this is something the community as a whole needs, and we are very fortunate to be in a position to make a contribution,” she said.

According to Stevens it is a $2.8 million project, $1.4 million will come out of the penny sales tax and the remaining balance will be funds from a general operation bond. He says four departments will call the new headquarters home: EMS, the coroner, 911 dispatch, and fire services. “It centralizes some of the public safety functions,” said Stevens.