Proposal for new 911 dispatching service in Morgan County

MORGAN COUNTY, AL (WAFF) - Morgan County Sheriff Ron Puckett wants to eliminate the number of people you have to talk to when you call 911 for an emergency. As of now, you dial 911 and if you live out in the county your call gets transferred. He says it could be simpler and he has a plan in place.

“Calling for help you dial 911. That dispatch answers and that dispatcher can immediately take care of your call instead of transferring to another dispatcher. Immediately your saving time and you could be saving lives,” said Puckett.

Consolidating 911 services will also save money.

“It’s not going to cost the taxpayers anymore money. What we will do here, our dispatchers that we have today, we will take five of those positions and pay for the cost of dispatch services through 911. No one will lose their job, we have positions open within the jail,” said Puckett.

Putting all of the dispatchers under one roof and using the same system could shave off a minute or more for deputies getting to you in an emergency.

“You might be in such a nervous state when you call, you don’t listen to the first dispatcher and you start talking about the emergency because your adrenaline is flowing and you’re not listening. So, you’re telling the story and all of a sudden the call taken says hey, I have to transfer this to another dispatcher. So, you could be wasting a lot of time,” said Puckett.

Puckett’s proposal will now go to the Morgan County commissioners. They’re going to meet on Tuesday and if they sign off on this proposal, it will go into effect Feb. 4.

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