Dispatchers

HARRODSBURG - For Gail Napier, a dispatch supervisor, her work at the Harrodsburg Police Department is an opportunity to meet new people. But filling out the paperwork and entering crime data into the National Crime Information Center database are some of the less glamorous parts of the job. "The community is really good," she said. "Sometimes they will report drug activity, whether it's there or not. " Last week, Harrodsburg dispatchers were officially honored by the city.

LANCASTER - Garrard County's 911 Board met behind closed doors Tuesday but took no action on cost-cutting measures to keep the system afloat. Sheriff Ronnie Wardrip, who serves as board chairman, said no answers can be given about dispatcher schedules or pay cuts until after proposals for taking over the 911 operation are received back from neighboring counties. Both Lancaster Mayor Billy Moss and Garrrard Judge-Executive E.J. Hasty have authorized the 911 board to solicit proposals.

STANFORD - The call comes in at 4 a.m. A wife leans over her husband of 30 years and tries to find a pulse that's not there. A 911 dispatcher tries to calm the woman over the phone and gives CPR instructions, "knowing it is probably too late. Talk about heartbreak, this is it, the real world," wrote Lincoln County emergency dispatcher and 911 center assistant director Jean Combs, in a letter to The Interior Journal newspaper. This week is emergency dispatcher appreciation week at the Lincoln County 911 center, a week of recognition for dispatchers dedicated to helping those in need.

A man riding a moped was seriously injured after he was struck by a car Tuesday. The accident occurred just off U.S. 150 near Lee's Famous Recipe shortly after 9:30 a.m. Detective Rick Edwards, Stanford Police, is investigating the accident and could not be reached for comment. Dispatchers at Lincoln County 911 Emergency Services said the man riding the moped suffered serious injuries and was transported by ambulance to Fort Logan Hospital. Dispatchers had originally requested a helicopter to transport the injured man to Lexington, but there wasn't one close enough.

Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner reads a joint city-county proclamation designating April 13 to 19 as National Public Safety Telecommunications week Thursday in the telecommunications room of the Winchester Police Department. Joining Mayor Burtner, were, from left, communications supervisor Rhonda Rogers, Clark County Judge-Executive Henry Branham and communications dispatchers Ronnie Blakemore and Rondi Leslie. Public safety communicators are the first and most critical contact Clark Countians have to engage emergency services.

Phone lines at Lincoln County's 911 Emergency Communications Center went down for approximately one hour on Tuesday morning. Director Ronnie Dobson said the center had to route calls to Boyle County's 911 emergency communications center for about an hour after the lines went down as they were being worked on between 11-11:30 a.m. During that hour, the 911 center only received one emergency call. Dispatchers from Boyle were in contact with Lincoln dispatchers via cell phone, Dobson said.

MORELAND - What began as a hang-up call to 911 ended with a police pursuit and the arrest of a man on domestic violence charges Thursday morning, due in part to the quick thinking of the emergency caller. Sheriff's deputies responded to the complaint of a domestic disturbance at 9 a.m. from emergency dispatchers, who had received a hang-up call moments earlier. Upon calling the residence listed as the source of the hang-up, dispatchers learned that Erin R. Wells, 24, of Hustonville, had allegedly broken a Domestic Violence Order and assaulted a female in a Raintree subdivision residence.

An emergency call went out to the City Commission Thursday from the director of the Danville-Boyle County 911 Center. Robin Parks told commissioners that staffing at the Center, which dispatches police, fire and medical personnel to emergencies, was reaching "dangerous levels. " Two of the Center's 11 positions are open, a situation that has been constant over the past two years because of difficulties in recruiting and keeping dispatchers, Parks said. Because of the staffing shortage, dispatchers regularly have to forego breaks, eat lunch at their desks and put off taking vacations, adding to the stress of an already stressful job, Parks said.

LIBERTY - Cattle were turned loose on Poplar Hill Road Saturday morning after the truck pulling them caught on fire. According to Kentucky State Police, the cattle were released after the truck pulling their trailer was involved in a two-vehicle collision. Casey County dispatchers received the call at 11 a.m. and dispatched the Southeast Fire Department. The State Police were called in for assistance while Sheriff's deputies worked several other accidents in the county. No injuries were reported.

LIBERTY - New computer screens and other communications equipment were installed this month at the Casey County Enhanced 911 emergency communications center on the Courthouse Square. A geographical map pops up on a screen and shows the longitude and latitude when an emergency call comes in and helps dispatchers communicate with police and emergency personnel who are enroute to a call. When a dispatcher gets a call, the equipment marks the location on a screen with the address where the call is being made, said dispatcher Phyllis Williams.

Looking through the logs for the Boyle County 911 Center, it appears Danville police officers are having difficulty communicating with each other and dispatchers. From Nov. 21 through Wednesday, there are 22 instances noted in the logs where officers in the field could not speak with dispatchers, had transmissions cut short or simply could not be heard over their radios, most often walkie talkies. "Radio cut out while giving descriptions," states a log entry on a Nov. 21 incident where officers were dispatched to Secretariat Drive for a domestic dispute, possibly involving a weapon.

When Jean Combs started as a 911 dispatcher 19 years ago, she worked with a single panel in front of her and kept all records on paper. "I was trained on paper and I still use paper," Combs said. But paper is now just a backup, an unassuming sidekick to the bright battery of computer screens that surround Combs and hold her attention while she works at Bluegrass 911, the call center that serves Lincoln and Garrard counties. Four screens sit at Combs' L-shaped dispatcher station, while four more line the wall above her and four more sit in front of her co-worker and fellow Waynesburg resident, Vicki Dowell.

An early morning call of shots being fired at 210 Whitney Court left police searching for a person who was missing from the scene. Officers were called to the scene at 4:33 a.m. today after dispatchers received two calls of people hearing gunshots, Winchester Police Capt. James Hall said. When officers arrived, witnesses said there had been a domestic disturbance but officers found no evidence of foul play. There was no evidence of any shots being fired at the scene, Hall said, and there is nothing at this point to suggest there was a kidnapping.

    Law enforcement officers in Lincoln and Garrard counties no longer have to wait extended periods of time in the field to receive critical criminal information, due to dispatchers gaining access into the NCIC/LINK systems.     Bluegrass 911 Central Communications, located in Lancaster, was established when Lincoln and Garrard made history when they combined their dispatch centers in 2008.  By merging the dispatch centers into one location, both counties have saved money.  The Lincoln County Fiscal Court use to pay $150 000 for dispatch expenses, but since 2008 neither county has paid any money to the center.

The Jessamine County Central Communications center will soon add some new technology to their 911 toolbox. The county is jumping on board with a national program called Smart911, which will allow those who work or live in Jessamine County to add personalized information to their 911 profiles to assist emergency responders. Jessamine County isn't the only one in the central Kentucky area to embrace the new technology either. Three other counties from the area are incorporating Safe911 into their call centers, including Fayette, Franklin, Anderson counties, Jessamine County 911 deputy director Tammy Durham said.

In the 1990s, a call to 911 gave you an audio connection to a dispatcher. Years later, dispatchers saw your location when you called from a landline. In the 2000s, dispatchers could find your location when you called from a cell phone. And today, Jessamine County is following the trend toward Next Generation 9-1-1, which would allow callers to connect to 911 through the most recent technology, including text messages and videos. “That involves receiving not just the data but also the audio, the data and the text itself and video streams that are coming through and pictures,” said Shelby Horn, director of Jessamine County 911. Horn said the office is waiting to get equipment updated before it will start accepting text messages and other new forms of 911 communication.

LANCASTER — As funding for 911 call centers continues to dwindle, the joint Lincoln and Garrard 911 center is hoping to add more counties to its mix and create a large regional call center that could save money for everyone. Garrard County Judge-Executive John Wilson would like to see Rockcastle and Mercer counties merge their 911 efforts with Bluegrass 911, the joint agency that provides service for Garrard and Lincoln counties. “It’s something that we’ve talked about quite a bit. We’ve talked about it for a long time internally between Garrard County and Lincoln,” said Wilson, who also serves on the Bluegrass 911 board of directors.

HARRODSBURG — Mercer County Fiscal Court unanimously voted Tuesday to purchase a new computer-assisted dispatch system for $47,884. Earl J. Motzer, chief executive officer of James B. Haggin Memorial Hospital, spoke on behalf of the Emergency 911 committee and recommended the new system as well as three other new equipment purchases he said the department needs. The committee is made up of representatives from the city, county, emergency medical service, police and sheriff’s departments.

LANCASTER ? Bluegrass 911 Center's board is considering appointing Lancaster Police Chief Ronald Lamb to an advisory position with the board, which could allow dispatchers easier access to criminal records. Currently, dispatchers have to call state police to run license plate numbers for criminal records, a process that sometimes leaves the dispatchers on hold and law enforcement waiting for 5-10 minutes, interim 911 Director Russ Clark said. Dispatchers can't access the system themselves because the board doesn't meet certain requirements.