INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — Improvements are coming to 911 equipment in dozens of Indiana counties. Local agencies said some of the enhancements will allow them to get to a location faster in an emergency.
The improvements include additional dispatch seats and enhanced mapping equipment to allow dispatchers to pinpoint a more precise location of an incoming 911 call.
“This will improve the accuracy of our maps which will improve our ability to locate people much faster,” said Brenda Wojdyla, Director of the Brown County 911 Dispatch Center.
Dispatch centers in 29 counties were awarded $2.8 million this month in federal grant money. It comes from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety administration.
According to Ed Reuter, executive director of the Indiana 911 Board, the grant is a 60/40 match. That means individual counties pay 40 percent of the project and the grant will cover 60 percent.
Administrators say the financial help is especially important for smaller counties like Brown.
“We don't have the funding that the larger counties have. A lot of our land is state park so it's not taxable. So we don't have the same tax base that a lot of the larger counties have,”Wojdyla said. “So this is very important.”
List of recipients
- Bartholomew County 911 Emergency Operation Center: $742,040
- Blackford County Sheriff's Office: $145,062
- Boone County Communication Center: $42,860
- Brown County Sheriff's Office: $35,615
- Cass County Central Dispatch:$130,000
- Daviess County Sheriff's Department: $319,519
- Dearborn County Communications: $113,737
- Decatur County Communications: $53,51
- Delaware County Emergency Communication Center: $1,050,000
- Dubois County Communication Center: $31,680
- Fayette County Communications: $38,055
- Jefferson County 911 Communications: $143,814
- Knox County Central Dispatch: $173,727
- Lagrange County 911: $141,890
- Madison County Central Dispatch: $99,900
- Marshal County Sheriff's Office: $144,346
- Montgomery County Central Communications Center: $28,560
- Newton County Sheriff's Department: $22,970
- Owen County Sheriff's Department: $176,937
- Pike County 911: $25,650
- Pulaski County Sheriff's Department: $215,469
- Randolph County 911: $37,010
- Ripley County 911: $105,284
- Scott County Emergency Communications: $34,990
- Shelby County Sheriff's Department: $29,470
- Tipton County Communications: $23,575
- Union County 911: $100,805
- Wayne County Emergency Communications: $247,163
- White County Communications: $105,995