Cammack Village 911 calls will soon be routed through Little Rock's dispatch center, if both cities approve an agreement going before the Little Rock Board of Directors on Tuesday.
Cammack Village, a small city of just under 800 people located entirely within Little Rock's borders, has been routing its 911 calls through the Maumelle Police Department's communications center for several years.
That adds time and steps in responding to emergency calls, law enforcement officials said.
The municipality near Little Rock's Heights neighborhood does not have its own 24-hour dispatch center. Currently, all 911 calls made from landlines in Cammack Village automatically go to the Maumelle center.
Cellphone 911 calls within the Cammack Village boundaries automatically go to the nearest cell tower, so they are routed to the Little Rock center and then to the Maumelle center. There are no cell towers in Cammack Village.
Some city officials and members of the audience laughed after Little Rock Assistant Chief Alice Fulk explained the roundabout process at a recent agenda meeting at City Hall.
Calls from Cammack Village were at one point routed through the Little Rock center, and it's not clear why that changed.
Cammack Village has four full-time police officers, and if a situation requires backup, it would typically be Little Rock police who are called in to help. The Maumelle Police Department's dispatch center contracts with smaller departments that don't have their own 24-hour centers, including the Pulaski Technical College Police and Public Safety Department.
"It's just going to make an easier communication path between us and Little Rock," Cammack Village Police Chief Peter Powell said. "If we need emergency assistance, it's going to come from Little Rock. It's not going to come from Maumelle."
He said there were no incidents in particular that prompted the change, but authorities wanted to cut down on the time it takes to answer calls.
Sending a 911 call through multiple communications centers can also mean passing along less accurate information about a suspect, he said.
Cammack Village will pay Little Rock $13,000 annually for dispatch services if the agreement is approved, plus about $4,000 in 911 fees, Capt. Ty Tyrell of the Little Rock Police Department said. The change would likely take effect 30-90 days after it is approved by both cities.
Tyrell, who oversees Little Rock's 911 Communications Center, said the additional call load would be about one call per day and not much of a burden on the center, which is not at full staffing. Cammack Village had 366 calls for service in 2018. The Little Rock dispatch center has 52 staff members; 66 is considered full staffing.
Additionally, Little Rock District Judge Mark Leverett will begin hearing cases out of Cammack Village, due to a decision that the state Administrative Office of the Courts made in 2018, Powell said. Cammack Village has 50 to 80 cases a year, and the majority are misdemeanors. There were 20 felony warrants in 2018, Fulk said.
"It is also kind of important for us to be the one dispatching because we'll be the ones having to verify the warrants. They don't have a high volume at all," the assistant chief said. "This is kind of bringing it all in-house."
The Little Rock Board of Directors will vote on the agreement at its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The agreement is also subject to approval by the Cammack Village City Council.
The Little Rock Fire Department already responds to emergencies in Cammack Village, Chief Delphone Hubbard said Tuesday. Cammack Village pays Little Rock $10,000 annually for that service.
Metro on 03/04/2019