County commission discusses vehicle-tracking system

Nevada Daily Mail

By partnering with Sprocket LLC, the Vernon County Sheriff's Office will soon have the equipment needed to track department vehicles on patrol.

Using Google Maps, Sprocket's Rural First program provides devices and software that will allow the Sheriff's Office to know where each of its vehicles are located, anywhere in the country, as long as they are within an area with cell phone coverage.

Ross Woolsey, founder of Rural First, which began providing its services to Missouri in May, met with the Vernon County Commission Tuesday and gave them a demonstration of the site's capabilities, which include vehicle tracking for first responders and routing turn-by-turn directions to rural emergency locations that may not be found otherwise.

Currently, Sheriff Jason Mosher and Vernon County are specifically interested in the tracking capabilities, which would keep track of where the vehicles are as well as whether they are in route, idling or running with their lights and sirens on. Mosher said being able to track vehicles will also be helpful when they transport prisoners, so they know where the vehicle is when traveling into other counties or states.

"That kind of stuff is what caught our interest," Mosher said, saying he had been in contact with Bates County, who uses the system and recommends it.

Geographic Information Systems director Tim Bourassa also met with the commission Tuesday and expressed some concerns about the data that would be shared with Sprocket.

When considering the contract, Sprocket requested information from the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch such as individual address points and street centering lines. The county provides the latter to different mapping sites such as Google and others, as it is public information, but the address points have only been available to 911 dispatchers and is not provided to the public.

Woolsey approached the commission to discuss the limited use data agreement, which does not provide the address points, which would make finding locations a quicker process, or allow the company to sell the information, restricting the company if it ever sells out to another business in the future.

"We're trying to support the sheriff with what he needs out in the field," Bourassa said, but expressed concern with providing the closed data to the company.

In the first stages of using the Rural First program, the involved parties decided to just provide the centering lines first to see if it will work as efficiently without the address points, which Woolsey said it should. Prosecuting attorney Brandi McInroy met with Woolsey to make adjustments to the agreement so it is acceptable to all involved.

The devices for the vehicles would only cost about $25 per vehicle each month with a start-up fee that will likely add up to about $1,500 for the software and equipment. The contract will be for a year, but Mosher said can be terminated if it does not work as they hope.

In the future, Mosher said they might decide to use the routing services Rural First provides, which would not cost the county any extra fees.

The Nevada Police Department currently has a tracking system in place very similar to the one offered by Sprocket, but Bourassa said it might not work quite as well for the sheriff's department since they frequently patrol areas outside the city limits where cell phone coverage is not as consistent.

"Cell phone coverage is sporadic and unreliable," Bourassa said.

Woolsey said they also provide the option of using satellite in place of cell phone coverage, but it would cost more.

On Tuesday, the commission also discussed the installation of water pipes in the Osage township to help Consolidated Public Water Supply District No. 1 get sufficient water to residents living near the northern edge of the district, some of whom currently do not receive water at all.

The new pipeline will run along Ezekiel Road, which is currently a gravel road with ditches on either side. The pipeline will be dug between the ditch and the road and will be about four feet underground.

In the contract between the township, county and CPWSD, the district is responsible for any repairs and maintenance needed to restore the road and ditch as well as to complete the task without interfering with traffic for a long period of time.