News

Sheriff shows off $3.6 million 911 center

Stephanie Brackett takes a call in the new 911 center.

By Bill Moss, Published: May 31, 2015

When parts gave out in Henderson County’s old 911 center, the sheriff’s department had a hard time getting replacements.

“We were having to salvage equipment from other places when we had breakages,” Sheriff Charlie McDonald said Friday during an open house to show off his department’s new $3.6 million telecommunications center.
In the line of fire, deputies on patrol face dangerous situations intermittently. Dispatchers, the sheriff said, often are busy with calls their whole eight-hour shift— from a fall at Wal-Mart to a car wreck with injuries to a choking baby.
“This has done more to give them a professional, effective environment to work in,” he said.

Lisha CornLisha Corn, the 911 center director, led tours Friday afternoon of the high-tech center in the basement of the sheriff’s department on Grove Street. Color-coded lights atop poles at each of the eight consoles tell whether the telecommunicator is taking a call, talking on the radio or calling for more help. At about 2:30 p.m. Friday, just when the center was the most crowded with open house visitors, 911 calls came flooding in about a rollover on westbound I-26 at mile marker 47 near the truck weigh station. The call-taker dispatched Mountain Home firefighters, two ambulances and the Rescue Squad. At 3:39 p.m., the center switchboard was lit up with 21 calls. (Only about 30 percent of the calls are emergency calls; the 911 center serves as the switchboard operator for all calls to the sheriff’s department.)
A graduate of West Henderson High School and UNCA, Corn has worked her way up over 20 years to lead the 911 operation. Cost of the new center was fully covered by a grant from the North Carolina 911 Board. The new center means Henderson County will have every technological advantage available to speed deputies to the scene of a crime and first-responders to medical calls, emergencies and fires.
“It’s probably the most state-of-the-art center in this part of the state,” Corn said.