Officials weigh suggestions to streamline 911 system
By TOM BERRY
Staff Writer
Murray-Calloway County emergency management officials have taken the first step of a possible difficult process of consolidating city and county 911 emergency operations centers in an effort to maximize efficiency in the event of a natural or man-made crisis.
During a meeting with Calloway County Sheriff Larry Roberts, DES Rescue Squad Chief Ronnie Burkeen, Rick Harris, supervisor of Murray Police telecommunications; Murray Fire Chief Michael Skinner, 911 Coordinator Ed Pavlick and other emergency services officials at Murray State University's Industry and Technology Building Tuesday afternoon, Emergency Management Director Jeff Steen pointed out the need to place operators from both stations in the same room and route all 911 emergency calls originating in Calloway County to one location.
Currently all 911 calls originating within Murray's city limits from land-line phones goes directly to the Murray Police Department EOC; however all calls from county residents - as well as any cell phone calls from any point in the county - goes to the Kentucky State Police. The calls are then transferred by KSP dispatch to the Calloway County Sheriff's Department. If the calls are of a medical nature, they are then transferred from local law enforcement to Murray-Calloway County Hospital emergency medical services.
Citing suggestions from the federal and state offices of Homeland Security, Steen pointed out the need to consolidate and organize emergency communications to one point and localize the services as much as possible.
“Let me just say that we have an eclectic 911 system and it needs to be streamlined,” Steen said.
If the proposal is approved by Murray City Council and Calloway County Fiscal Court, as well as state and federal agencies involved, Calloway County 911 dispatch will be moved to the Murray Police Department facility on Poplar Street, according to Sheriff-elect Bill Marcum, who will play a leading role in the consolidation effort.
However a major hurdle to consolidating the services is a 15-year-old, five-county agreement signed by Calloway County Fiscal Court in the early 1990s to route all county 911 services through the Kentucky State Police as part of an effort to cut costs. There is a possibility that KSP would not want to lose revenue from the current agreement and the two EOC operations would remain administratively separated.
Pavlick said the agreement would likely prohibit organizing emergency dispatch operations under one administration. But despite the possible roadblock, Pavlick said the agreement would likely have no affect on locating both dispatch centers in the same building.
“We have got to realize that the key word there is ‘dispatch,' not ‘911,' because a majority of calls will not be 911,” he said pointing out a problem in the misuse of 911 services by the public that is one of the major reasons for the consolidation proposal.
Harris said getting both centers located in the same place at the same time would still be a significant step forward. “If we get the dispatchers in the same room, at least the right hand will know what the left hand is doing.”
One problem currently faced by both 911 emergency operations centers is the volume of calls that are not emergencies. According to Harris and Roberts, calls to both dispatch offices more often are residents seeking weather reports before and during a storm, reporting situations and crimes that are not of an emergency nature, and other types that often interfere with emergency dispatch operations.
Some members of the committee suggested a public 911 emergency education program that, hopefully, would help alleviate the problem.
“We have five phones in there and it's not unusual for all five of them to be ringing at the same time,” Roberts said. “People are just not aware of the volume of calls that come into the sheriff's office (emergency dispatch) that are not emergencies.”
Harris agreed. “Lord help you when a storm comes up,” he said.
Steen will soon write letters to both Calloway County Fiscal Court and Murray City Council detailing the need for consolidation and seeking support from both entities in the effort as well as notifying the Kentucky State Police and other emergency operations services involved.
For complete story, see today's Ledger & Times
Story created Nov 29, 2006 - 11:29:15 EST.
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