Inside look at the 911 Dispatch Center

POLSON — Deep in the heart of the Lake County Courthouse, behind unmarked closed doors, lies one of the county’s greatest assets — the high-powered, high-tech 911 Dispatch Center.

The hub of information, communication and direction for law enforcement and first responders connects in seconds those in peril in the community to the public servants who are in the business of saving lives.

After you gain admittance behind a secured entryway  to the Dispatch Center from supervisor Jessica Barnette, the first thing that catches your eye is the 11 flat screen monitors on the wall. Each has split-screen capabilities to monitor practically every foot of the courthouse — from the parking lots, to the hallways, to the courtrooms and the solitary cells in the jail.

The Lake County 911 Dispatch Center dispatched a total of 33,053 calls in 2008, a mere average of roughly 90 calls per day — making 45 calls a day per dispatcher.

They are the “first, first responders” as the initial person talked to by phone when someone calls 911 with an emergency.

“This is a 24 hour a day, seven day a week gig — no matter what, it doesn’t stop,” Barnette said.

Then, there are the dispatchers and their stations: three stations capable for use, two of which are manned 24 hours a day by a rotating staff of 11 trained 911 dispatchers. The phone can ring up to 150 times in an hour and these individuals are also responsible for using radio channels and dispatching to officers and responders all at the same time.

“They dispatch in real time, and they can multitask with the best of them,” Barnette added.

Each dispatcher station has five monitors at their workspace, two of which are touch screen, and at least two keyboards. Starting on one side and going across, the first screen is a maps system specifically for Lake County. The system gives detailed directions that can be faxed directly to fire and EMS personnel.

The next screen is a CJIN, or Criminal Justice Information Network computer, used throughout the state of Montana as the center of information for dispatch centers. The CJIN computer can access information from every state in the U.S., as well as information from Mexico.

“All the information you could ever need about somebody is on that screen,” Barnette said.

The next monitor is a “SWIFT Justice” screen, which is a Computer Aided Dispatching system. This screen is the true heart of the 911 Dispatch Center’s operations in Lake County, with all active case reports on file and links to all the different agencies, officers and first responders in the area.

Up next is a Motorola radio touch screen monitor, in which personnel use up to 12 different channels to dispatch off of, in addition to a pop-up paging screen. The very same paging system is what sets off the city sirens to alert volunteer firefighters in the communities of Polson, Ronan and St. Ignatius in the case of a fire call.

The final screen is a touch screen phone monitor that is connected to seven different 911 lines for “hard lines” or home/residence lines,” one 911 line for cell phones and one Crime Stoppers line. As the center is currently a Phase II department, calls from “hard lines” will give dispatchers the name and street address from where a person is calling as well as GPS location devices on newer cell phones.

Supervisor Barnette recommended that anyone with a cell phone to activate the GPS device in it as it has helped first responders locate individuals hiking, recreating or involved in vehicle crashes in low cell phone reception areas — adding, “even if we can’t hear you, we can find your location.”

After seeing two of the three dispatch stations in action at a time you will have no doubt that the people who work in this environment are extreme multitaskers. Barnette said the touch screen technology works well with dispatchers head-set systems to only further accelerate their skills.

“The high technology we have now is much more simple than it was back in the day,” Barnette said. “It has dramatically sped things up, and they are multi-tasking so much already that it basically just helps expand the amount they can accomplish in a single minute’s time.”

To keep all this 21st century dispatch center running smoothly, the department has its own communications and IT expert, Jim Atkins. Not only does he keep all the high tech operations of the dispatch center in line, but he is also the man who set up an online radio frequency that broadcasts all the local police, fire, and EMS calls throughout the county with a free download through ScanAmerica.us. Basically, Atkins transmits the county radio frequencies from a scanner device at his home to the Scan America server which he says has been listened to by up to 160 different local people at a time.

With the free download off the website, users are not required to have scanner equipment in their possession — just an Internet connection and a mainstream media player (iTunes, Windows Media Player, Real Player, etc.) on their computer. Lake County is one of four counties in Montana that are broadcasted through the website including Missoula, Flathead, and Yellowstone counties.

The local frequency picks up radios from: Lake County Sheriff’s Office; the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe; EMS; Polson, Ronan and Mission Police and Fire. Atkins added that in the past people listening to their scanners have helped dispatchers and officers by calling in and telling them something they witnessed as it is being discussed on the radio.

To get a free online scanner download and listen in for yourself log onto http://lake.mt.scanamerica.us/index.php.

The high-tech environment of the dispatch center is also, as you can imagine, high on stress levels at times. The supervisor explained that this makes it ever the more important to make the dispatch center a livable place where they feel comfortable working their standard 12-hour shifts. Some “creature comforts” are offered to accommodate dispatchers including a single window overlooking the courthouse grounds, a 10-inch television with cable (commonly tuned to Animal Planet), a fish tank, plants, decorations around the holidays and a kitchen area.

“With two on at all times, they really can’t leave the building and unfortunately they’re here basically strapped to their chair from the time they arrive to the time they leave,” Barnette added. “But we try to make it as homey and fun as possible and we’re really fortunate to have a window as most centers are buried in the basement of a building.”

The local Dispatch Center is also lucky to have Rich Wiebke, a retired accountant from Polson who works as an unpaid volunteer 12 hours per week entering data into the computer system to make dispatchers lives that much easier.

“He makes the process easier as its all stuff that has to entered and really just allows us to keep everything on time instead of getting all piled up,” Barnette said.

Whereas many sheriff’s departments have a closed door policy with 911 centers, Lake County’s dispatch center has embraced an open door relationship with sheriff’s deputies and other agencies officers coming and going, working side-by-side with the dispatchers who send them out on calls and file their case reports. The open doors policy allows for better inter-departmental communication and rapport.

“I think we’re very lucky to have what we have and they know we have the technology to make their jobs that much easier and our center an incredible asset to the community,” Barnette said.