Modesto, Stanislaus County extend 911 partnership after turmoil, grand jury review
Stanislaus County and Modesto agreed to extend the 911 dispatch joint powers authority for another year. The decision comes after 12 months of friction between the sheriff and county leaders and a critical civil grand jury report.
Separate actions Tuesday by the City Council and Board of Supervisors extended the Stanislaus Regional 911 JPA from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2026. The agency’s dispatch center handles 911 calls and dispatches for Modesto police units, the Sheriff’s Department and fire districts.
Buck Condit, county board chairman and member of the dispatch center commission, said Thursday they’re eyeing a mid-January startup for a computer-assisted dispatch system purchased through CentralSquare to replace an antiquated system.
The MPD and Sheriff’s Department have not been in agreement over the $1.7 million CentralSquare CAD. It is favored by MPD and most county officials, but Sheriff Jeff Dirkse has worked with Oracle Corp. to develop a system tailored for the his department with records and jail management capabilities.
After a proposal to leave the JPA and partner in a dispatch center with Ceres fell through earlier this year, the Sheriff’s Department agreed to a compromise to house both the Oracle and CentralSquare systems at the Stanislaus Regional 911 center.
The sheriff indicated in a related staff report Tuesday that he expects an interface between the two dispatch systems no more than seven months after CentralSquare is activated.
The CAD-to-CAD interface is necessary to eliminate a time-consuming call transfer when a person needs an ambulance. The JPA was created in 1999 but the county and Modesto have jointly contracted for 911 dispatch services since the 1970s.
Dirkse did not respond to requests for comment on the JPA extension.
A civil grand jury investigation concluded the Regional 911 dispatch center was “fraught with divisive controversy.”
The report released in June described the Sheriff’s Department as an outlier among the partners in SR911. It alleged that political tactics, threats of litigation, personal attacks and the sheriff’s refusal to work with key officials, including dispatch center director Kasey Young, had damaged relationships.
County supervisors on Tuesday approved an $84,600 order with CentralSquare for additional licenses for the Sheriff’s Department for temporary use of that system next year.
Dirkse’s staff report said the additional licenses are for patrol supervisors, records personnel, contract cities and staff in the Threat Assessment Center. The report said the Sheriff’s Department does not anticipate the license agreement with CentralSquare will go beyond the first year.
Dirkse has said his agreement with Oracle will provide an advanced CAD system for the Sheriff’s Department at no initial cost to the county.
This story was originally published December 12, 2025 at 1:48 PM.
