Changes Coming to 911 Dispatch

After years of gathering information and working behind the scenes, Sheriff Tom Boyer is rolling out changes to how 911 calls within Valley County on the Fort Peck Reservation are routed and responded to by law enforcement and EMTs.

Over the past few decades, after the Bureau of Indian Affairs and with the advent of Tribal Law Enforcement, all 911 calls coming from the Reservation have been routed to the Wolf Point dispatch by agreement. During his campaign for Sheriff and during his tenure, Sheriff Boyer has heard from Frazer and Oswego residents who have expressed concerns about the implementation of the agreement. He has also heard from dispatch and his officers regarding frustrations with the system.

Starting August 29, all 911 calls that come from within the boundaries of Valley County, including those on the Fort Peck Reservation, will be routed to the dispatch center in Glasgow.

“Communication is the key to success. And what I see is a disruption in efficient and quality communication,” said the Sheriff, in reference to calls taken by Dispatch in Roosevelt County and shared with Valley County. “And the goal is to enhance that and again, provide better service to all the communities, but specifically to the Reservation communities.”

Sheriff Boyer has spoken with residents, the Roosevelt County 911 board and Sheriff’s office, Fort Peck Tribes Chief of Police Jim Summers and the Tribal Council in his efforts to provide better service for the community. “Hey, what’s wrong with Valley County taking Valley County’s calls? ...Why could this potentially be a problem? And could we make things better by making this separation?”

The changeover has not been an easy one as multiple entities needed to be involved. Sheriff Boyer has needed to address communication infrastructure with companies such as Nemont, CenturyLink and OnStar while also working to implement better communication and information sharing with medical first responders and adjacent law enforcement agencies.

Valley County Dispatch and all respective agencies will be involved in testing calls through the end of the month in preparation for the hard cut-off implementation date of Aug. 29. The Sheriff noted, “I’ve got companies that are working with the cell towers, making sure the routing is correct; the landlines, making sure all those are correctly done. Working with Tribal Law Enforcement so that when we need to dispatch to them, we have some radio changes done here in our dispatch so that we have the ability to communicate with them from our dispatch center.”

Sheriff Boyer is excited about the changes coming to the service in an effort to better serve Valley County. “There’s been a lot of work going into that from a lot of different people to make this actually come to fruition. So I’m excited about it, mostly because I think it’s going to be a good thing for the citizens of the area.”

He continued that the changes will make the Sheriff’s Office more accountable to all residents of Valley County as well as provide better first responder service, including EMS and fire.

More information on the changeover will be put out on the the Valley County Disptach Facebook page and the VC Sheriff app when available.