Effort to consolidate Bannock County dispatch centers meets resistance
POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - An effort to consolidate Bannock County's dispatch centers is meeting resistance.
“We’ve been working together for a long, long time,” said Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen.
Chubbuck Police, Pocatello Police and the sheriff's office each have their own dispatch center. Bannock County serves as the dispatch center for the smaller cities in the county.
“I think dispatch is one of the stronger links in our public safety chain right now,” said Chubbuck Police Chief Bill Guiberson.
Steven Weeg disagrees. About a year ago, Weeg lost a friend in an emergency at the top of the West Fort of Mink Creek.
“(He) went hiking and ended up having an accident where there was no cell service. By the time emergency personnel got there, it was too late,” Weeg said.
In a letter to county and city officials (signed by 42 community members), Weeg said the accident showed "we have multiple, fully staffed dispatch centers serving our county. We also have many areas in our county where there is no cell service or other form of necessary emergency communication."
Weeg believes the redundancy of three dispatch centers may be unnecessary and make emergency communication more difficult. He believes a consolidated dispatch center may have resulted in a more immediate response to his friend's emergency, possibly saving his life.
He wants to find a solution that would be cost effective and save lives.
“I don’t know what that’s gonna be. Originally, I think, ‘Well, could one be better than three?’ It could very well be, maybe not,” Weeg said.
The way dispatch operates is a complicated issue with a lot of parts. Bannock County has to take into consideration the ambulance district, having a back-up dispatch center for emergencies, the implementation of future technology and more.
Currently, all three dispatch centers work together.
“All three of the dispatch centers--Bannock County, Pocatello, and us-- are all on the same IT infrastructure. We’re all using the same computer aided dispatch system, we’re all using the same phone system and we’re all using the same radio system with all the same frequencies. So any dispatch center in our area can see what’s going on in another jurisdiction and respond to that accordingly,” Guiberson said.
Dispatch gets more complicated when cell phones are involved or if a call gets directed to a cell tower in the wrong area. It's especially difficult if an emergency happens in an area without cell service, like it did for Weeg's friend.
“It does show that we don’t have good cell service coverage in this county in places where people recreate. That’s another issue entirely,” Weeg said.
Nielsen believes there are other issues the county should focus it's efforts on, such as expanding the jail.
“Folks, this isn’t that broke. In fact, I don’t think it’s broke. Do I think we need to have a committee to maybe take a look at this? I have no problem with that,” Nielsen said.
The County Commissioners office has said in a statement that they see the issue of dispatch as a concern and are open to exploring options for an independent study.
