Sandusky County to debut $1.2 million centralized dispatch center

FREMONT — An estimated $1.2 million project is about to streamline how law enforcement, fire departments and EMS agencies receive calls for help in Sandusky County.The Sandusky County Sheriff's Office plans to roll out an upgraded centralized dispatch center in 2019 that will handle 911 calls for many county public safety agencies. They estimate the center will "go live" in February.The upgraded centralized dispatch center, which Sandusky County Sheriff Chris Hilton said has been years-in-the-making, aims to increase emergency response efficiency, along with some cut costs."It's been a huge undertaking," Hilton said. "It's going to be awesome."This building at Castalia Street and Countryside Drive houses the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office's central dispatch center. Fremont transitionMany police and fire agencies in the county already had their calls dispatched through the sheriff's office, Hilton said. The only new additions to their dispatching ranks are the Fremont Police Department and Fremont Fire, who have their own dispatchers.No Fremont dispatchers will lose their jobs in the transition to centralized dispatch, Hilton said."That was something very important to the city of Fremont," he said.Fremont has four dispatchers, Hilton said. He said the sheriff's office hired three of them, and the fourth did not want to join the central dispatch and left for another job.Hilton said the dispatchers will be making slightly less money than they did in Fremont, but will get a better pension pickup. They also won't be treated as new hires, and will thus get a larger amount of vacation time.In total, the sheriff's office will have 12 dispatchers and is looking to hire one more, Hilton said. Three dispatchers will work on each shift.Several county agencies will continue doing their own dispatching next year. For example, Clyde and Bellevue police have their own dispatchers — though the latter is considered to be based in Huron County — and Green Springs police have their dispatching done through Seneca County.Hilton said one of the big hurdles to overcome for the project was repairing trust in the sheriff's office, following the tenure of the previous sheriff Kyle Overmyer, Hilton said. Overmyer is serving prison time after being convicted on charges related to stealing drugs from drop-off boxes and taking money from the sheriff's Furtherance of Justice fund."We've had to build that trust," he said. "You can trust us now that we do things the right way."Tech upgrades, new benefitsThe centralized dispatch center will feature new technology.One of the biggest upgrades is the addition of a GPS tracking system that allows dispatchers to see the locations of individual police and fire vehicles in real time, Hilton said."That's one of the things I required," Hilton said.Dispatchers can use the system to see which units are closest to a given emergency, making it easier to get to a police cruiser or fire engine to a scene quicker.The Erie County's Sheriff's Office features similar technology in their centralized dispatch center, which has been in operation since 2012. Hilton said his dispatch center will essentially mirror Erie County's setup, but on a slightly smaller scale.With the new center also comes a new digital record management system — called Central Square — that will put all police agencies within the dispatch center on the same system. Hilton said that makes it easier to look up suspects' interactions with other police agencies."If I need to know about a particular person, right now, I need to call their dispatcher or speak to their officer," Hilton said. "Now I can just go on the computer and see Fremont police had that person on a traffic stop last night."The added technology means the sheriff's office had to install a second server room at the dispatch center, according to Lisa Kuelling, Sandusky County's director of EMA, 911 and Office of Homeland Security.Sandusky County has a five-year, .30 mill 911 levy, which is used to pay salaries for dispatchers, Kuelling said.The center, along with dispatch operations throughout the country, also makes 25 cents every time someone calls 911, as a surcharge, she said.Connected to other countiesKuelling said the new central dispatch center also allows dispatchers to connect with 911 centers in other counties.The new dispatch operation in Sandusky County will be a "geo-diverse" system, Kuelling said. What that means is if something catastrophic occurred and the dispatch center couldn't operate, the center can send its 911 calls through either Wood or Ottawa County, who operate on similar systems, and vice versa. The benefit of a geo-diverse system is citizens can have more confidence that 911 services can remain operational during all emergencies. "Both (citizens) and us have the reassurance that 911 calls should always be answered without any loss of a system," Kuelling said. Agencies participating in Sandusky County's centralized dispatch include:Fire• Fremont Fire Dept.• Townsend VFD• Woodville VFD• Lindsey VFD• Ballville VFD• Gibsonburg VFD• Green Springs VFD• Sandusky TWP. VFD• Helena VFD• Risingsun VFD• Bradner VFD• Kansas VFD• Portage VFD• Old Fort VFD• Harris-Elmore VFD• Bettsville VFDEMS• Sandusky County EMS• LS91Law enforcement• Sandusky County Sheriff Office• Fremont Police Dept.• Woodville Police Dept.• Gibsonburg Police Dept.Additional public safety agencies• Sandusky County EMA/911/Office of Homeland Security• Additional Agencies or specialized teams:• Sandusky County Park District-Park Rangers• Sandusky County Dog Warden• Sandusky County Hazmat Team• Sandusky County Drone Team• Sandusky County SRTVisit our Sandusky County Sheriff's Office hub for more storiesReach reporter Brandon Addeo at brandonaddeo@sanduskyregister.com, follow him on Twitter @BrandonAddeo and follow the Register at Facebook.com/SanduskyRegisterDispatch supervisor Tina Anderson works inside the Sandusky County Sheriff's Office's central dispatch center, which is still under construction, on Wed., Dec. 5, 2018.