Chillicothe/Livingston County E-911 Coordinator Cindy Hanavan applied for and received two grants in 2020 through the Office of Homeland Security/Department of Public Safety for the Next Generation 911. The Chillicothe Police Department reports the federal grants will pay 60% of the total cost of the project, and the city/county pays the other 40%. The total cost of the grants is $63,825. The City of Chillicothe and Livingston County will be responsible for $38,295.
The first grant was for 911 mapping. The new mapping for the 911 system will be site-based instead of cloud-based. The Chillicothe Police note the current 911 system is based out of Kansas and included the mapping. That will change in the next few months to a site-based system to be housed at the Chillicothe Police Department where the 911 center is.
The calls made now go from Livingston County to Lenexa, Kansas, and back to the Chillicothe Police Department. It was the same for the mapping.
Once the project is done, all calls will go directly to the police department. The police department notes that will make a quicker response from communications officers and emergency services to the caller or scene.
Livingston County also now has a program called Rapid SOS, which assists with locating the 911 caller if he or she is moving and talking on a cell phone.
The second grant was for two mobile laptops for instances where the communications center needs to move to another building. An example of why it might need to move is an incident that damages the communications center and makes it unsafe for communications officers to stay in the building. Laptops can be taken to the Chillicothe Fire Department and dispatching can be done from a storm-safe room.
The Chillicothe Police report touch screen monitors were also purchased to better aid the communications officers going from screen to screen on calls. They have four monitors per station. The department notes having touch screen monitors enable the officers to maneuver faster between screens by not having to find the correct mouse for the monitor.
The Chillicothe/Livingston County Communications Center dispatches for all Livingston County emergency services. The police explain the goal is to make the dispatching of calls and processes more efficient for citizens, emergency services, and dispatchers as well as make things safer for everyone.
