PULASKI COUNTY, Ark. — The city of Jacksonville and Pulaski County announced that in response to the Arkansas Public Safety Act of 2019, they will be consolidating their 911 dispatch centers.
The act requires counties with more than one Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to consolidate 911 operations by January 1, 2025, which, will downsize the PSAP'S from seven to three.
"We'll soon be signing our initial letter of commitment with one another so it will be official and it's moving forward. Over time we shouldn't have any problems in making that full report on January 1st to the Office of Emergency Management, meeting that milestone in the law," Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde said.
Judge Hyde explained how this consolidation also helps cut down the cost and provide a more efficient system for the public.
"There's always pressure to do more and to be more efficient with the use of public taxpayer funds, so I think that's what the legislature was doing is saying because of today's technology, we didn't need so many piece apps operating, you know, in all the counties of the state," he added.
To Hyde, technology is the biggest factor of this all and it's important to be able to reach all centralized locations in case of an emergency.
"It's faster, it's more redundant. and in the case of Jacksonville and Pulaski County going together, we're now going to have that advantage of being in a hardened facility so even in the midst of a catastrophe like tornadoes there won't be any lag in the provision of an availability of 911 dispatch services," Hyde said.
911 Director for the City of Jacksonville, Tabby Hughes explained how combining the two dispatches could be the difference of life or death since they will now have a better chance of sending their first responders out quicker.
"It's going to create less time as far as response times, for the citizens, it's going to stop having to transfer calls back and forth between the agencies and trying to figure out is that in the city, or is that in the county. Once we have one dispatcher taking all the calls, they'll just put the call in, and the software will do it for them," Hughes said.
Hughes said that this collaboration will be great for both parties since they work with each other often and everyone's priority is keeping the community safe.
"They're excited to have the sheriff's office here with us I mean, they talk to them on the phone every day this way. They're gonna be able to put a face to the name and to the voice that they're talking to. I'm sure there's things that Pulaski County does differently than we do and we do different than them. We're going to learn from each other. And so that's going to help all of our agencies and make us all just better dispatchers in general because we're going to be together and get to learn from each other," Hughes said.
According to the Pulaski County Government, the consolidation of services will fulfill this obligation and will be housed at Jacksonville's cutting-edge facility where all dispatch personnel and equipment are located inside a tornado-safe room.
The merge is expected to be completed by January 1, 2025.