Security at the 911 dispatch center was an issue at Tuesday’s Allen County Commission meeting.
Sheriff Tom Williams said he found a proposed policy too restrictive, while Angie Murphy, 911 dispatch director, said she thought the close control of visitors to the Allen County Critical Response Center was necessary.
State regulations require dispatchers to have a secure environment because of the sensitive nature of their work and the information they have access to.
The sticking point is that the response center, 410 N. State St., also contains the county’s emergency operations center and has two rooms in back, one where volunteers train and the other for storage, in addition to the dispatch center.
Williams noted the response center “is a multi-use building, one where volunteers train and then respond when emergencies arise. It would be difficult for us to do all we need to do in emergency response without volunteers.”
Volunteers are members of the Community Emergency Response Team, others training to be CERT members, and citizens involved as amateur radio operators and weather spotters. When severe weather threatens the area, Pam Beasley, emergency management director, and volunteers take up positions in the emergency operations center on the south side of the building.
Commissioners said they would discuss protocols to ensure the security of the dispatch center when non-dispatch personnel are in the building. Upgraded doors on the dispatch center may be the answer, although walls of the dispatch center are not sound-proof, Murphy said.
Williams said he was confident that an arrangement could be worked out that would be satisfactory to all involved. A positive observation, he added, was that “there hasn’t been even a hint of a violation” of state-imposed 911 center regulations, “not even a technical one.”
“Angie runs a tight ship,” he said.
911 dispatch center security an issue
