VAN BUREN COUNTY, Ark. — In the next couple of years, 9-1-1 dispatch centers across Arkansas will look different because many agencies are in the process of consolidating them.
Currently, when you call 9-1-1 and get transferred to multiple people, it can be frustrating and sometimes even scary depending on your emergency.
According to the Arkansas 911 board, one way to help prevent this from happening is to combine dispatch centers within counties.
"Currently, we're at 98. And we're reducing that number down to 82," Arkansas 911 Board Executive Director, C.J. Engel explained.
Engel said the statewide change will be a step in the right direction.
"It's just going to be a positive impact to our citizens to our visitors," he said.
Engel expects it to help dispatchers too.
"You're gonna see a reduction of misrouted, 911 calls from one center to an inappropriate center. And then you're gonna see a reduction in response times from the first responders as they're going to be dispatched faster," he added.
Van Buren County recently placed dispatchers from the jail into the county's 911 center. Judge Dale James explained that they've already been seeing the benefits.
"By having a consolidated dispatch, like we have in one central unit, and away from the jail and away from other aspects of any other job, they get to focus solely on the emergency and take best care of people when seconds matter," Van Buren County Judge Dale James said.
Judge James said they've outgrown the current building in Fairfield Bay.
"It's very tight and confined. So we're running into issues where radio transmissions between one dispatcher are being picked up on the radio transmissions of another dispatcher," Judge James said.
He explained the new dispatch center at the courthouse annex is going to make their jobs a bit easier.
"It's acoustically designed and we should eliminate all of those issues. We're also getting new radio equipment, new repeaters for our towers, we're getting new cabling for them. And state-of-the-art computer-aided dispatch," Judge James said.
The 911 board's ultimate goal is to have only one dispatch center in most counties, depending on their population.
"I think it's the right time, and that it's gonna be a benefit for all of us moving forward," Engel said.
The 911 board's deadline for the dispatch center consolidation is January 2025.
The board has also purchased a statewide emergency services IP network that they expect to improve the technology that 911 is operated on.