(KIMBALL, Neb.) – November 11, 2024: The Kimball County Sheriff’s Office would like to recognize our unsung heroes that are available in emergency services, our great staff of Emergency Services Dispatchers that serve our community. This is a very thankless job as they are available 24/7 and are many times the ones to have first contact with those involved in tragic events. Last calendar year, our dispatch center had over 18000 calls with 1680 911 calls. With a combined experience of approximately 40 years experience serving the community, it is important to recognize their training and experience. The following are some of the training, certification and re-certifications that our dispatchers have completed this year:
NCIC certification, CJIS certification, Emergency Medical Dispatch certification, crisis intervention and introduction to mental health crisis, de-escalation strategies and techniques, dispatcher specialized call types training, suicide and crisis lifeline operations training, dispatcher liability and legal issues training, smushing security awareness training, spear phishing security awareness, suspicious events training, high risk critical task training, phishing defense training, public safety telecommunication training, CPR, secure browsing training, password management security training, universal telecommunications essentials training, responding to people with mental illness, ransomware security awareness. They hold more certifications and trainings from previous years.
Some of these trainings are free but some of them we feel the importance of paying for. Two years ago the Sheriffs Office spent $732 dollars on training, in the last fiscal year the Sheriffs Office spent around $2353 in training. This fiscal year started July 1 and the Sheriff’s Office has spent more than $4000 in training our valuable staff.
In the dispatch, there are two separate dispatch stations where we can have two dispatchers dispatching simultaneously. In the main dispatch station, there are 9 computer screens, 4 telephones and multiple maps showing us numerous information including the Air Force sites. The computers consist with the following equipment/programs:
CAD- Computer Aided Dispatch This allows the caller and the units in the field to have the dispatcher’s full attention. This allows units in the field along with dispatch to share notes and other pertinent information. This also allows for voiceless dispatching. This system is vital in our dispatch center and is more advanced than what many dispatch centers of our size have to offer.
NCIC- this is the National Crime Information Center. This is through the FBI through an agreement that we have with the Nebraska State Patrol. It is a computerized index of missing persons and criminal information. It is designed for the rapid exchange of information between criminal justice agencies.
MACH- Mobile Architecture for Communication Handling. This system allows us to easily cooperate during daily activities and emergency events. This is available in the patrol units as well as in the dispatch center. This system features real time data, real time tracking of units, real time mapping, custom maps, instant messaging, silent dispatching. It is also NCIC and NLETS compatible.
Zetron- The communication console. This is a critical part of dispatch. This provides an integrated command and control center. The console is where our dispatchers monitor 10 radio channels. This includes a shared channel with surrounding countries law enforcement, EMS, Fire and flight for life. This system also gives us paging capabilities to page for Kimball Fire, Kimball EMS, Dix Fire and Bushnell Fire. This system also gives us the capability to set off the tornado alarms in Kimball, Dix and Bushnell.
Viper-This is our 911 phone answering system. This system is text compatible meaning if you text 911 we can have communication with you if you are not able to talk on the phone. It is also connected to mapping to help gain the location of where a 911 call may be originating from. There are other details that may be entered in on this mapping as well such as controlled burns. We do have cellphone pinging capabilities to ping cellphones given certain criteria is met.
NCJIS- Our Dispatchers have access to NCJIS, this is the Nebraska Criminal Justice Information Center. This is a cooperative project between state and local criminal justice agencies within the state of Nebraska. This project is hosted by the Nebraska Crime Commission.
Rapid SOS- This system helps connect critical data directly to emergency services. This scalable API integrates any device, app, or sensor, securely transmitting vital information like user, incident, and location details to 911 dispatchers. This helps get emergency services to your location.
Panhandle Alert-This is an official emergency notification system used to communicate with the community residents during emergencies. NWS- Provides weather, water and climate data, forecasts and warnings and impact-based decision support services for the protection of life and property. These services include forecasts, observations, warnings, impact based decision support services and education in an effort to build a weather ready community. We have both a NWS phone and monitor.
In the dispatch center are other equipment and programs as well including but not limited to panic buttons and other alarm systems.
The Kimball Police Chief and Kimball County Sheriff had a meeting and it was discussed to keep all dispatching in Kimball. It is the Sheriff’s understanding that all dispatch services will stay in Kimball County.
We will continue to do our best to serve the citizens of Kimball County and always have continued improvement.
Original Community Announcement
The Kimball Police Department is considering a potential move to the Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center, and we want to ensure our community stays informed and involved in this important decision.
Join us for an Informational Meeting at the upcoming City Council session. The meeting will provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions and share any concerns about the proposed transition.
- Date & Time: 11/07/2024 @ 5:00 PM
- Location: City Council Chambers 223 South Chestnut St.
We are pleased to have the Director of the Cheyenne County Emergency Communications Center present to speak about the potential switch and answer your questions.
Your input matters. We hope to see you there! Live meeting with closed captioning available on Zoom Webinar from any we browser: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85237500031
-KPD
(KIMBALL, Neb.) – November 6, 2024: Discussions of the police department having Cheyenne County dispatch for them…will this once again raise your taxes? I know this will be a controversial subject, but I feel I was not elected to avoid things that are controversial. I think it is very important to keep the public informed on the things that will affect them.
Why move the dispatch center to Cheyenne County? The police department and another emergency services have had concerns with the Kimball County Sheriff dispatch. One of the concerns that seem to be a top concern is that the dispatchers are jailers as well. Cheyenne County has a dispatch center separate from their jail. The Kimball county jail is as many small communities in that is “grandfathered” in so that the jailers can be dispatchers as well. I do not believe this system is perfect but we are a community of 3500 people. This helps keep the cost down in small communities such as ours.
There have been other concerns that the Sheriffs Office has addressed and is working on addressing. I do not believe that the Dispatch center is perfect but neither is any department. There will always be room for continued improvement. The city now pays the county $99,000 per year for Dispatch services. There is an MOU between the city and the county and has been for nearly 30 years for the Dispatch service. This payment helps cover the cost of equipment and salaries. The mayor and police chief have told me that they are just getting information. There will be information given at the next city council meeting on November 7. This was on the Cheyenne County commissioner meeting on Monday. At this meeting I was not under the impression that it was just informational as well as other information that I have received. This is just my opinion and not what I’ve been told.
Concerns that I think should be considered if the city no longer pays the county $99,000 per year: This will mean the sheriffs office will have to try to cut this money from the already tight budget or ask for more tax dollars which I feel is not an acceptable option. Many options will have to be considered by the sheriff’s office so taxes will not be raised. As long as we have a jail, we have to staff 24/7 regardless of if they are dispatching or not. It should also be considered the communication gap that would be between our emergency service, and in my opinion, create a wedge between our local emergency services. If a deputy or officer needs back up, will it now have to be requested and transferred through two Dispatch centers? Will it affect response times? Where do the 911 calls go? The 911 calls can be Geo fenced and any call within the Geo fence could go to Cheyenne county.
This decision is made by the sheriff’s office to determine which 911 center the calls will go to from Kimball county. This decision as to where the 911 calls go will not be made without input from the community and other emergency services involved as we will try to do what is best for the citizens that we serve.
This meeting is November 7.
Discover more from Hale Multimedia LLC
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Leave a Reply