Lenawee County 911 Dispatch getting equipment to stop issues with lost calls

Mary Lowe, The Daily Telegram
·2 min read

ADRIAN — Lenawee County Central Dispatch is getting a piece of equipment that should help it to avoid some of the issues it has had with disruptions of 911 calls.

Lenawee County currently shares a Vesta controller located in Grand Rapids with four other counties and a fifth is being added. Any environmental or technological event that occurs between Grand Rapids and Adrian could and has affected the fiber network that delivers calls to Lenawee County’s dispatch center, also called a public safety answering point (PSAP).

Sgt. Corrine Perdue, left, then deputy director of Lenawee County Central Dispatch, and dispatcher Adam Daggs demonstrate how a dispatcher can access a 911 caller's smartphone to view live video on Jan. 16. Lenawee County Central Dispatch is getting a piece of equipment that should help it to avoid some of the issues it has had with disruptions of 911 calls.

Since the beginning of the year, Lenawee County dispatch has had five outages lasting more than 30 seconds and an additional four lasting less than 30 seconds, according to Lenawee County Sheriff Troy Bevier.

The recent severe thunderstorms and the winter ice storm were particularly difficult for the dispatch center with the off-site controller.

The sheriff’s office has been working with PSAP service provider Indigital of Fort Wayne, Indiana, and telecommunications provider Peninsula Fiber Network LLC of Marquette to find solutions.

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“Because the delivery of 911 calls is mission critical, our 911 center has opted to add a Vesta controller at our dispatch center,” Bevier said. “Other dispatch centers in southern Michigan that have a controller locally are not experiencing the same issues that we have seen.”

The Lenawee County Board of Commissioners during its Wednesday, Aug. 9, meeting approved the purchase of the on-site controller; a five-year service, maintenance and support agreement; and a five-year software/hardware update at a cost of $295,249.11 to be paid from the 911 service fund.

The controller only will serve Lenawee County and be located on-site, alleviating the distance the call delivery is currently traveling and minimizing the risk of service interruption.

Lenawee County Central Dispatch also will have the ability to reboot the system without affecting other PSAPs.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County 911 Dispatch getting equipment to help with lost calls