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Local 911 center eyes idea of serving other area counties
There seems little question that Southwest Missouri has inadequate 911 emergency services.
But there are lots of questions -- and not enough money --when it comes to getting things up to snuff.
Richard Roark, director of the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch Center here, said he needs better technology for when cell phone callers don't know where they are and the mobile company they're using does not have GPS locator or triangulation services.
The dilemma is worse in neighboring Cedar, Hickory and St. Clair counties because their emergency calls go to sheriff's dispatchers who have no way of determining a caller's location unless the caller knows where he or she is.
That's why Roark wants to beef up Nevada's center in the new county jail building and extend services to the other counties.
Cedar and Hickory county commissioners had responded favorably when he approached them as Polk County 911 director at Bolivar before coming to Nevada last summer, he said, but he is starting over now that he is in a different, albeit still contiguous, county.
"The Missouri Department of Public Safety is pushing to consolidate the 911 centers and we're in a prime location," Roark said. "Cedar County is mapped and ready to go, but they're like we are with cell phones.
"It's a future dream because it would cost close to $1 million to get this off the ground."
Along with seeking approval of an 80-cent per month technology upgrade fee from every cell phone user in the state, three professional organizations broached regional consolidations to the Missouri General Assembly Jan. 25 in Jefferson City.
"The legislators agreed something needs to be done, but the consensus was that they don't want to do anything right now because they don't want to pass any new taxes," said Roark.
He joined fellow members of the Missouri 911 Directors' Association, National Emergency Number Association and Association of Public Safety Communications Officials on the political sojourn.
Roark said modernizing the Nevada center with a "Next Generation" CML Versatel system would cost about $220,000. "We're also talking about sharing servers with Bates County and picking up each other's systems," he said.
Cedar County Sheriff David Starbuck said the Stockton area could use better emergency communications, but a detailed analysis would be required. "If someone calls going down Highway 54, they may get me or Vernon or Hickory (county)," Starbuck said.
"It depends on what tower it is. We also dispatch for seven fire departments, the city of El Dorado Springs and St. John's Hospital District out of Springfield. There would have to be a lot of information-gathering because it would be complicated."
Hickory County Sheriff Ray Tipton had spoken with Roark when Roark was in Polk County, but he said they would have to start from scratch about extending services from Vernon County.
"I'd have to sit down and go over it again to see how it would work," Tipton said from Hermitage.
"We have nothing now. Everything is dispatched out of here -- fire department, rescue and sheriff. We're it. We have simple caller ID that gives the name and we set up our own medical sheets in the computer.
"We have cards with physical directions and addresses for about 1,200 people, but that's not very many when you have 10,000 in the county. We would like to upgrade, but the questions are how and how much."
With a dozen dispatchers taking more than 2,100 calls a month, the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch Center averages 60-70 calls for Nevada firefighters, varying amounts for rural volunteer fire departments and the Vernon County Ambulance District, 700 for the Vernon County Sheriff's Office and 1,400 for the Nevada police.
They also run license plates, check backgrounds and register warrants with the National Crime Information Center and Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System, or "MULE."
Roark said Vernon County has been in a better position to upgrade since it finished addressing all rural businesses and residences on Jan. 1, 2010.
Supervisor Tonia Davis said Thursday that the work is stressful, but it attracts a special type of person who enjoys its unpredictability. "I wouldn't do anything else," she said.
"The main goal is to get the same standard of service for everyone across Missouri."
With at least two people at a time on duty 24-7, Davis and fellow Supervisor Kristi Sutton manage dispatchers Kevin Black, Pam Pierce, Peggy Haslam, Becky Conner, Loretta Sellers, Keith Schooley, Sarah Shirrell, Brenda Bruce and Marilyn Selvey, who has been on the job for 35 years.
Along with legitimate calls for help, Davis said, the bugaboo of crank calls is exacerbated by people giving their children activated cell phones to play with.
When a nonsense series of numbers is dialed, she said, the system surmises that the caller might be unable to dial 911, and the phone's number and location come into the center as an emergency call.
"A lot of times, it's a small child or a toddler, and we try to get ahold of the parents," Davis said.