Amory board considers moving PD dispatch services to County
AMORY, MISS. (WCBI) – For years, all 911 calls for the Amory Police have been handled by dispatchers working out of police headquarters.
And Amory Police Chief Ronnie Bowen says the system works fine.
‘If it is not broke, it doesn’t need fixing,” Chief Bowen said.
Like any communications system, the equipment at the police department could use an upgrade. According to the most recent estimate, it would cost the city around $400,000 to do that.
Amory Mayor Zack McGonagill says aldermen began looking for other options. The board is considering moving dispatch services from the police department to the county’s 911 system.
” I know we have centralized dispatch, which has worked well for the fire department since 2005. The police department’s stance, I believe, is they are worried about some record-keeping issues, some employees are worried about not wanting to leave the city and go to the county for a dispatch job, and we were looking at this with the county,” Mayor McGonagill said.
Moving dispatch from the police department to the county’s 911 offices, by the airport, would mean the transfer of four police dispatchers to Monroe County. The remaining two dispatchers would work clerical jobs during regular hours at the police department.
Chief Bowen says there are other legitimate concerns.
‘We need the station house open, like it is now, 24 hours a day, for people to be able to come here, whether it is day or night, no matter what their shift work is, they can come to the police department and get services we owe to them,” Bowen said.
And although no one would lose their jobs, Chief Bowen says dispatchers who are transferred would be impacted.
“They would still get their retirement, but lose all their seniority, city benefits, lose everything, and city would still be paying county for their salary at 9 1 1, money would go to county and county would pay, that is my understanding,” Bowen said.
Mayor Mcgonagill says aldermen will likely tour both dispatch centers soon.
‘We want to go to the 911 office and look at how the sheriff department and 911 does their stuff, and then look at police department so everyone can look at everything,” McGonagill said.
Aldermen will make the decision whether police dispatch is moved to the county’s 911 system, if those services are moved, it would have to be before the new budget year, which starts October first.
No date has been set for a tour of both 911 systems by Amory aldermen.
