Stanislaus County leaders not pleased with 911 dispatch center update. A safety issue?

The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office has refused to join a new computer-assisted 911 dispatch platform and in 30 days will revert to more basic communications in dispatching deputies to emergencies, according to an update to county supervisors Tuesday.

Based on what was said, sheriff’s personnel will use radios and revert to “pen and paper,” but a sheriff’s lieutenant said it won’t be as primitive as that sounds.

Deputies have other equipment in their cars letting them know the location of other deputies and for handling other law enforcement functions, Lt. Brock Condit said. “We don’t literally use pen and paper,” he said.

It was latest update on interagency disputes at the Stanislaus Regional 911 center, and supervisors in general were not pleased. “You better have it going in 30 days,” Supervisor Terry Withrow said. “God help you if something happens and someone gets hurt.”

The Stanislaus Regional 911 center plans to implement a CAD system called CentralSquare in September to replace antiquated dispatch software. The center receives 911 calls and handles dispatching for Modesto police, fire departments and other agencies in the county.

The Sheriff’s Office is the only member agency that has not been configured to connect with the CentralSquare system at SR911, which is set to go live Sept. 22. Sheriff Jeff Dirkse wants his department to use a computer-assisted platform developed with Oracle Corp. that has records and jail management capabilities.

The sheriff has pressed on with development of the Oracle CAD, even though county leaders and other agencies in the Regional 911 joint powers authority want to implement the CentralSquare CAD, which was approved more than a year ago.

Sheriff’s Office staff said the widely used CentralSquare software has shortcomings and they’ve heard that the Turlock Police Department, which uses the system, has trouble running license plates.

Lt. Condit said it makes no sense for the department to adopt a new system when it has already tested the Oracle software.

Sheriff’s Office staff has said the department wasn’t treated fairly during process of selecting a new CAD for Stanislaus Regional 911 last year. The department took steps to leave the JPA and worked on a partnership with Ceres police to expand that city’s dispatch center and use the Oracle CAD. But details of the plan never were worked out.

In March, the county Board of Supervisors supported a proposal for the Sheriff’s Office to use the Oracle CAD alongside the CentralSquare system at the regional dispatch center. That still could happen but it requires activating CentralSquare and testing it before developing cross-connections between the two platforms to prevent 911 response delays.

In a letter to Dirkse in May, county Chief Executive Officer Jody Hayes said he was made aware of challenges with making the CentralSquare and Oracle platforms communicate with each other.

“CentralSquare and SR911 would need to dedicate substantial staffing resources for system validation, testing, project management and other related activities,” Hayes wrote. “CentralSquare is a proven product, operational in thousands of locations, whereas Oracle’s system is new to the public safety market and remains under development.”

Hayes wrote that CentralSquare has expressed willingness to be part of a future CAD-to-CAD system but has advised SR911 that CentralSquare should be fully implemented and tested before an interface with the Oracle CAD is developed.

Because the Sheriff’s Office has not engaged in the implementation process for CentralSquare, the county update said “disruptions to the dispatching of sheriff deputies are anticipated following the planned go-live date of September 2025.”

The discussion at Tuesday’s meeting wasn’t assuring for a county resident who identified herself as Amanda. “When I call 911, I don’t want to get transferred a bunch of times,” Amanda said. “I am almost shaken about it. This is ridiculous. Pen to paper, really?”

What could change is a screen in the 911 center showing dispatchers the location of law enforcement officers at all times. Sheriff’s deputies won’t be on the screen if the department is not connected with CentralSquare by next month.

Kasey Young, executive director of Stanislaus Regional 911, said dispatchers won’t be able see the location of resources and won’t have the ability to dispatch the closest law enforcement units to an incident.

The lack of visibility is not safe for officers. Young said calls will have to be broadcast over radio, increasing the work for dispatchers. Situational awareness will suffer, she added.

The technical shop talk between Young and sheriff’s officials at the meeting made it hard to discern the department’s course for launching the Oracle system and how that might occur. Dirkse did not attend the meeting.

Supervisor Vito Chiesa said plenty of talks and meetings have been held with Sheriff’s Office leaders in the past year. He said he hopes CentralSquare works well for Modesto police and the other agencies but he doesn’t see the Sheriff’s Office joining the platform by next month.

“I don’t think we are going to get there,” Chiesa said. “I think there will be a public safety issue. I thought we had a path.”