Boyd Police Department will soon have a new partner for
emergency communications (dispatch) services.
Per an interlocal agreement approved by the Boyd City Council July 2, Boyd PD will use Decatur Police Department’s dispatch services. The cost of the agreement is $45,000 per year, with the contract broken up into two one-year terms.
The City of Boyd will also be required to provide additional emergency communications infrastructure, which Decatur Police Chief
Delvon Campbell previously estimated at $130,000 when the Decatur City Council OK’d the agreement June 10. City staff said the infrastructure will be paid for with federal funds.
Boyd City Administrator William Taylor said that conversations regarding dispatch services have been ongoing for close to two years. A more accute focus was put on the issue after the Wise County Sheriff’s Office notified
the city it would begin charging for dispatch fees Oct. 1 of this year.
In an effort to provide competitive pay and boost staff retention, the WCSO proposed a plan last year to begin charging Boyd, Rhome and Runaway Bay for the dispatch services. WCSO’s fees fell between $39,650 and $47,411. The two fee calculations were based on percentage of calls for service (CFS) and user percentage calls for service.
Taylor said it became “pretty clear” to the council and staff that the fees would be instituted by Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin before he left office (Akin is retiring at the end of this term), or if Chief Deputy Craig Johnson, who ran for sheriff but was defeated by Cary Mellema, was elected to the office.
Although Mellema previously told the Wise County Messenger he was not in
favor of charging Boyd, Rhome and Runaway Bay for dispatch services, Taylor said it could be a while before the sheriff-elect is able to address the issue.
“I believe the sheriff-elect, with some time, will be able to make a lot of changes in that. But honestly, I think it’s going to be quite some time…” Taylor said. “I don’t know if that’s a year, two year, four years or 10 years — I think they have
a lot of work to do there.”
On top of the yearly fee and infrastructure cost, part of the interlocal agreement requires Boyd PD to become accredited as a Texas Police Chiefs Association best practices agency within two years of the contract going into effect.
Taylor said that not only will Boyd PD have a better experience through the agreement, Boyd citizens will also notice a change due to Decatur’s
“customer service” based approach to its city operations.
When asked what current problems Boyd PD is experiencing with WCSO’s dispatch services, Boyd Police Chief Jason Schmidt cited instances of his officers failing to be notified of an armed person when responding to a call, and an incident where Boyd PD was not dispatched to a rollover accident in front of Allsup’s involving an intoxicated driver.
“Our officers are going to have a lot more information at our fingertips. It’s going to be a lot easier for us to work on the side of the road with the CAD and RFS system,” Schmidt said. “I think that when citizens call they’re going to get better service than we’re getting today with our current provider. It’s a better deal for everybody.”
Taylor added that another city, later identified as
Rhome, would be on board with a similar agreement with Decatur pending Boyd’s agreement. He said that Rhome’s water tower is likely the best location for the infrastructure to be installed, and cited Boyd and Rhome already existing police services agreement.
