Archived Story
Chief explains police dispatch changes
Published 12:00am Sunday, May 13, 2012The City of Ironton will hand over its dispatching services to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office Thursday. The four dispatchers are being laid off; city council decided earlier this year not to fund dispatching after June.
Police Chief Jim Carey recently explained the details of how calls to the police department will be handled once dispatching is gone.
Beginning at 10 p.m. Thursday people who call the Ironton Police Department will get an automated system advising them they’ve reached the IPD and if they have an emergency they must dial the sheriff’s office at 532-3525 or call 911.
“We prefer they call the sheriff’s office,” Carey said.
“Then, that call goes immediately to a dispatcher who sends the officer. With 911, those dispatchers then have to relay the call to the sheriff’s office.”
Those who do not have an emergency but need some other form of police assistance will be given an automated phone tree directing them to push a certain number to reach a certain office or person in the police department.
Beginning May 18, the police department office will only be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Requests for rummage sale permits will be handled at the finance department.
Residents will no longer be able to post bond for fines at the police department.
Carey said, over the years, residents have called the city to report late-night water line breaks and other non-police problems and the police have called out the necessary city employee to handle the complaint. This will end once the county takes over dispatching.
“Dispatchers do more than what people realize they do,” Carey said.
Last week the city also laid off three road patrolmen, leaving Carey and 15 employees more short-handed than ever. The department was already struggling with a manpower shortage: three open positions that were vacated for various reasons have not been filled. These recent layoffs, then, will leave the city six officers short.
With the layoffs, Carey said he will be forced to pull Steven Wilson from the detective’s bureau and put him back on the road. This means Capt. Chris Bowman will be the sole investigator for most, if not all, cases — murder, assault, robberies, burglaries, etc. Carey said this will still leave one road patrol shift not covered; it will be filled with overtime.
Losing dispatch may cause problems, but Carey said he was very disappointed to learn some council members are balking at having a police department clerk when officers are being laid off.
“City council is talking like they’re not going to fund the clerk’s position and that changes the whole ball game for us,” Carey said.
If the clerk’s position is not funded, the vehicle impound lot will be closed. Carey said the impound lot brings in an estimated $50,000 to $70,000 annually.
“The last sale we got $15,000,” Carey said.
The person who would likely have gotten the clerk’s position, Kenton Jordan, is not solely a dispatcher; he was the department’s terminal agency coordinator (TAC) coordinator for its Law Enforcement Data Systems (LEADS).
LEADS is a national database system used by law enforcement. It must be manned around the clock every day to be called an entering agency, with the ability to enter warrants, information on stolen cars, etc. Once the dispatchers are gone, the city loses its entering status (ability to enter warrants, etc.,) and becomes a non-entering agency. This means the city can no longer enter information into the system. Without Jordan, its only trained TAC, the city will lose its LEADS terminal altogether. The city could train officers to do this, but the road patrol is already shorthanded.
The sheriff’s office may not handle stolen vehicle calls, because it was not part of the basic service the two entities have agreed on.
“He (Sheriff Jeff Lawless) said he will provide us with the same service he provides the villages,” Capt. Dan Johnson said.
Johnson said he thinks the sheriff is willing to accommodate as best they can and has been very cooperative but Lawless and his office is also shortstaffed and underfunded.
“I don’t see the level of service being the same,” Johnson said. “It can’t be.”
A few comments are necessary to better inform sevaral posters here.
First – someone stated that the chief was creating a new position of clerk. That is incorrect. For the past 30 years or more, each chief of police has had a secretary/clerk/dispatcher. In April of 2011, the lady doing that job retired after many years of doing that job. The chief chose to save the city money and did not to fill her position. Instead he delegated those duties to several other people.
The task of keeping all payroll records and submitting them to finance was assigned to dispatchers and to one of the senior day shift officers. That function was formerly done by the clerk. An officer will now have to keep all payroll records in addition to his other duties.
The feds send out a background check for any person applying for a federal job. That means a background check must be performed by each local agency where the job applicant has ever lived. This applies if they are applying for a military, corrections, labor, or clerical position. Each police department if that area is required to perform this check and reply back to them at no cost to the feds. The secretary did those. And there are many of those that are required in each week. Dispatchers took over the jobs of doing those background checks. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done.
A person applying to live in government housing is required to have a background check performed. Once again, dispatchers took over the jobs of doing those background checks. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done.
For every accident, burglary, vandalism etc that has report taken, the victims insurance needs a copy of that report to process their claim. The clerk provided those copies. Since her retirement, dispatchers have done that. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done. As a private citizen, I would be upset that I had no way of obtaining a copy of that report.
In order to have a rummage sale in this city, a permit must be obtained at the police department. The dispatchers took over that task after she retired. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done on a 24 hour basis. That task can be transferred to the city finance department. Residents will be forced to obtain those Monday through Friday during regular business hours. The convenience of 24 hour service will be gone.
Vehicles involved in crashes or others that are in violation of city ordinances such as being inoperable or abandoned or having expired tags are towed to the city impound lot. The registered owner may reclaim their vehicle after taking care of the problem. The owner goes to the police department and shows the proper paperwork, pays the tow fee and the storage fees and then can have their vehicle released. Dispatchers are the ones taking those payments and releasing the vehicles. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done.
Every person given a traffic citation, arrested or ordered to appear in court at a later late must have specific paperwork processed for use by the court. Dispatchers are the ones that do that paperwork. In addition, a master list of all arrests is maintained for future use. That list is maintained by the dispatchers. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done.
Currently, if a person walks into the office at IPD, they push an intercom button and are greeted by a dispatcher. That was 24 hours per day and 7 days per week. After Thursday, with no dispatchers and no clerk, that will not happen. With only 2 officers on duty, the chances are very good that no one will be there at the station to handle their needs.
When a person is arrested for domestic violence, their previous arrest history must be checked through the national data base. 2nd or 3rd offenses result in more severe charges (felony charges instead of misdemeanors), and higher bond amounts are required. Dispatchers are the only ones trained and allowed to run that background check through the national data base. None of the officers are able to do that. When the dispatchers leave Thursday night, that function will cease. And not all dispatchers at the SO can run those. They frequently ask IPD dispatchers to do those for them. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done.
When someone has been arrested by any agency, that person usually has the ability to post bond – either by paying cash or using a bail bondsman. Dispatchers are the ones that take that bond when the court is closed. That service was only done by the IPD staff. The sheriff’s office has never taken bond. With no dispatcher or clerk on duty, that task will not be done until the court makes other arrangements.
Those are just a few of the jobs performed by dispatchers and the clerk. Eliminating both positions will have consequences.
IPD has not done anything to sabotage the transition. There are simply things to be done that cannot be transferred to the sheriff’s office. Public service will suffer in those areas. That is the reason that council and the chief agreed to keep one clerk position. Now council has changed their mind due to budget reasons and your personal service will suffer. There is no argument; we need every officer we can have on duty and on patrol. But keep in mind, eliminating both positions will have consequences.
Now you know the rest of the story. Now at least you can comment after knowing the facts.
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1st any monetary agreements would have to be reached by elected officials. My position has always been IPD should be dispatched by 911 at no additional cost, because the citizens of Ironton already pay for this service. If those who appropriate funds disagree, they have the authority to make such agreements.
2nd, I do not know that the Sheriff asked for this. If I were in his position I would not want to absorb one of, if not the busiest, LE agencies in the county without additional personnel or funding, unless I had no choice and there were no other options at this point. The Sheriff should be commended for the assistance he is providing and his willingness to help. I believe we should give him, and both the newly appointed commissioners’ ample time to work on the overall goal of consolidation.
3rd, Greenup County, Kentucky saw the reports that dispatch at IPD was being eliminated. They also saw that there was no agreement being reached. GC contacted me and offered to help and offered an alternative as a worst case scenario. I went to another State, met with people whom I had never met or worked with and in less than 30 days we had a plan in place that assured the citizens of Ironton could get help in emergencies (their facilities and capabilities were amazing). This was not a political stunt or politics; this was a police chief preparing for a worst case scenario and another agency offering to help. Again, you drew your own conclusion and made a false assumption. I do not play politics, especially when it pertains to public safety, nor am I part of a secret political society.
Again, responding to a news comments section is something I normally do not do, it has been my experience that most comments (or attacks) are unjustifiable, bias and could be avoided, if all would make a commitment and attend governmental meeting and discussions. So, I resound to reply no more, but I invite you, encourage you to call me with any questions. I can be reached at the Ironton Police Department 740-533-6100.
Chief James Carey
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So let me see if I understand this correctly, while we have police officers who are detrimental to our safety and the safety of our children who are currently laid off, we are worried about saving the jobs of clerical workers and administration.. Aka “pencil pushers”? Are you kidding me? Why was the police department the hardest hit? Can someone please answer that question? Can some of the people in administration not take on more responsibility and maybe cut some of those positions and bring back some of the officers? I don’t know about other citizens, but personally,I feel safer with a police officer patrolling with a weapon and arrest powers than I do with a 9-5 er saying stick em up with their shiny scary ink pen! Come on Ironton, get it together, get our police protection back, keep our families safe and stand up to this so called administration that is running our city and your/our in the ground, its time we take Ironton back!
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To swimmingupstream:
I think you maybe a little too tough on everyone involved here. I’d have to say that I actually feel like things are moving along about as we thought, albeit more than six weeks earlier than we anticipated on the IPD dispatch. Remember, the Commission didn’t make our decision until April 5th. Including that day, we have cleared two obstacles in my opinion. The first being that we gave one person the sole authority to make decisions (Sheriff Lawless), and now we have a clear direction on what responsibilities that will include (IPD dispatch).
Chief Carey has been quite helpful and in fact he and I had a good conversation not long ago. The Sheriff and I have done the same. I don’t think any of us felt this would be easy but all now see the importance of us working together to make this work.
There are definitely road blocks, but I am confident they can be overcome. Let’s give the Sheriff and his staff a little time to adjust to the increased call volume and then he will have a better idea what his needs will be. Our sales tax revenues have been coming in better than expected so far and hopefully we will be in a position to accommodate Jeff’s additional budget needs.
Please don’t get too frustrated yet. We’ve only now seen the cards of the second hand.
Thanks for your time.
Bill Pratt
Lawrence County Commissioner
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First of all let me say that cooperation between the agencies are a must. Now, with that being said, it seem to me that some form of call forwarding would be a simple and economical solution since it is inexpensive if not free. Seems like emergency calls should be forwarded to the people that are going to dispatch emergency calls. Second I must say kudos to our city council for not funding, at least so far, a clerks position when officers are laid off and the police dept. does not have one now, nor have they ever had one. Funding another made up position is not what the city needs right now.
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Chief Carey,
I can respect your position and what you are attempting to accomplish. I only wish to point out two things. How is it that the county should assume the full duties of dispatch without charging a penny when you are saving the salaries and benefits of four dispatchers while expecting the county county to absorb this? Secondly, I know you mentioned the sheriff is getting this “dumped in his lap” but my understanding is he asked for this just as he has had the EMA placed under his juristiction as well. I’ve been following this story and I am fairly sure given the politics of things the pending agreement to be dispatched across the river was a political threat. You surely do not expect others to not know how the politics in good ole Larry County work.
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This one time I communicate via a news source comment section. I would implore all to attend local governmental meetings and discussions, so you can learn facts and the true opinions of others rather than drawing your own conclusions and making false assumptions.
My stance on dispatch consolidation has been stated and documented. IPD should be at 911! I have stated this over and over. This would include Ironton residents calling 911 for emergencies. My ideas are very similar to Pointer 92. However, what I want (recommend) and what and how it’s being done is very different, but even Police Chief’s have to follow orders and directives.
If you have concerns about what is being implemented, I suggest you contact your elected officials for an explanation; maybe you will get a valid answer, but to just make assumptions and accusations is unfair.
Pointer 92, to my knowledge we have never met or even talked about this venture or you would have known my views, for you to implicate that I have done such a thing purely out of spite, is unjustified and a lie. You are wrong!
Swimming, what obstacles are you referring to? IPD is cooperating and doing exactly what we are being directed to do. To insinuate IPD is sabotaging 911 by telling it citizens to call the Sheriff’s number is a false, malicious allegation. You too are very wrong! We are doing what we are told.
The Sheriff of this county has only had authority over 911 for a short period of time, given a reasonable amount of time I am confident he can accomplish the mission of consolidation. He and the Lawrence County Sheriff’s office and I and the Ironton Police Department have been given a monumental task pertaining to dispatch service, the burden of dispatching all agencies will be dumped in his lap on May 17th and neither agency has been allocated one extra cent. The Sheriff and I do not, have not, and will not always agree on every issue, but I can guarantee you this, both he and I will put public safety, the safety of citizens of Ironton and the safety of the County Citizens first, of this I am certain.
Chief James Carey
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Attention Commissioner Pratt:
I was so encouraged by your April 20 remarks on an earlier story; however, it’s obvious by reading this article that the commissioners, mayor, sheriff, and police chief are not on the same page. It would appear that your effort to get all the dispatching agencies together under one roof, with some degree of efficiency, is being fought tooth and nail. Lawrence County may eventually enter the 20th Century but certain people will have to be dragged kicking and screaming. And yes, I meant the 20th Century.
So after all this effort we have a system that is in effect worst that the one we’re leaving behind. The sheriff may be in charge of 911, but he’s not willing to merge his dispatchers into 911. The city police are being forced into a merger they really don’t want so they are throwing up all the obstacles they can manufacture to kill the deal.
IPD is sabotaging 911 by telling it’s citizens to call the old sheriff’s number instead of 911. The sheriff’s dispatchers won’t handle IPDs LEADS work and 911 dispatchers are not competent to handle it. The city’s getting rid of everyone who had the credentials to operate LEADS and even though the sheriff said he would need to hire additional dispatchers he’s apparently not going to hire anyone qualified, otherwise another obstacle would be eliminated and we don’t want to do that.
Maybe it’s time we all stuck our heads out the window and started to yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” It worked in Network.
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So the chief wants to undo over 15 years of educating the public to call 911? That’s a terrible idea and I’m afraid it sounds just a little spiteful. The dispatch centers will be merged soon and then you have to go back to re-educating the public, plus when you dial the direct number you no longer get the benefits of enhanced 911 if you are unable to give your location for some reason. This just smells of a healthy dose of ignorance.
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