CARTHAGE, Mo. — When Joplin police are dispatched to an address in Joplin, or Jasper County sheriff's deputies to a location in the county, dispatchers at emergency communication centers in Joplin and Jasper County know simultaneously that the officers are en route.
Soon, the two agencies will share telephone lines, then radio systems will be linked in additional steps toward virtual consolidation of emergency dispatch centers serving Joplin and Jasper County.
Currently, dispatchers for the county agency work in a center south of Carthage, and their counterparts in Joplin work in Joplin's public safety complex at 303 E. Third St. The two agencies are working to consolidate their services to improve officer safety and emergency responses to the public.
"We're both working toward it, but it's taking time," said April Tarrant, executive director of Jasper County 911 operation.
With the recent completion of work to interface the two agencies' computer-aided dispatching programs, dispatchers for the city and county both see on their computer screens where city and county officers are being sent.
"That's safer for the officers, because if more than one agency is responding to a call, they both need to know that," said Greg Dagnan, Carthage police chief and a member of the Jasper County Emergency Services Board that oversees the county operation.
Once the phone upgrades are completed, the two will be able to more quickly hand off calls to the other agency.
"It will be like being in the next room," said Dagnan. "When we get a call that belongs to them, we'll just put it on hold and they'll pick it up. And the information will show up on each others' consoles."
That's especially important, said Jason Burns, Joplin police chief, because emergency calls via cellphones can come in to either system.
"It will shorten the response time, and we won't be leaving a caller on hold," he said.
The linked phone system is to be installed in the county center in April, and in Joplin in June. Next will come radio consoles that will allow each dispatch center to hear each other's radio traffic.
That radio system is separate from another effort aimed at improving law enforcement communication. Sheriff Randee Kaiser has purchased new radios for his department and obtained a discount to help other agencies purchase the same radios. Towers and other elements of the system will be maintained by the county department.
"That means all the agencies will be able to talk to each other on the same frequency," said Tarrant.
Joplin will not be on that system, Burns said, because the city already has its own system that also serves city police, fire and public works.
"But I've got grant funding to buy their radios to put in all my supervisors' cars," he said.
The goal of the virtual consolidation is to ensure all agencies can communicate across an area that has a dozen jurisdictions and boundaries and to provide a faster emergency response, he said. The consolidation also will ensure emergency dispatching can be maintained in the event of a disaster.
"If anything would happen to take one center out, either agency could just move to the other," Burns said. "It would be seamless."
Cost
Thus far, the Jasper County Emergency Services Board has spent nearly $223,000 on equipment and technology for the consolidated systems, and the city of Joplin has spent more than $118,000.
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