Bates County Sheriff's Department Press Release: E911

 

In the summer of 2010, the Bates County Sheriff’s Office and the County Commission began working together to bring Bates County Enhanced 911. In November of 2010 the first major step toward E911 was the purchase of the 911 system for the Sheriff’s Office. This system was a joint effort between the County and the City of Butler. By purchasing the system together there was extreme cost savings for both entities. That system was installed in the summer of 2011.

ThenextstepintheE911implementationwastoaddresseveryhouseinBatesCounty. ThisstephadalreadybeenstartedbyLynnFullerwhoturnedthereignsovertoanewlyhired911DirectorBrianBearce. Thisdauntingprocesshadtwostepsinitself. Thefirststepwastodrawacenterlineroadpointandthenassignhousenumbers. TheDirectorthenhadtodriveallofthecountyroadsandgetGPSpointsforeachproperty. ThesedatabasesweresupposedtobedoublecheckedwiththedatabaseoftheUnitedStatesPostalServiceinKansasCitybutweredelayedduetoprivacyrulesbythePostOffice. Thisdelaycausedthe911Directortoseekotheravenuestoconfirmaddresspoints.

Oncethatstepwascompletedthenthecounty’sdatabasewasenteredintoasoftwareprogramthatisdesignedtolookforerrors. ThisstepwascompletedinlateOctoberof2013andthensubmittedtotheUnitedStatesPostalService. AstheareasareapprovedbythepostalservicethentheyaresentbacktotheSheriff’sOffice.

ThisweektheSheriff’sOfficehasbeguntosendlettersouttotheresidentsofBatesCountyinformingthemoftheir911address. ThePostalServicehasadvisedusthateachresidenthas6monthstoconvertallmailtothenewaddress. AtthetimeofthispressreleasemultipleareasintheNorthendoftheCountyhavebeenapprovedandarebeingmailed.

MailingaddressesisnotthelaststeptohaveE911upandrunning. Oncethewholecounty’saddresseshavebeenapprovedandmailed,thenthecompletedatabasewillbeturnedovertoCenturyLinktobegintheirworkonthedatabase. ThereareapproximatelyfiveothertelephonecompaniesthatCenturyLinkwillhavetoworkwithtocompletethedatabases. OnceallthetelephonecompanieshavereceivedandconvertedtheaddressdatabasesthenCenturyLinkwilltheninstalldedicatedtrunkedphonelinesintotheSheriff’sOfficetorunE911. OncethephonelinesarehookeduptothesystemE911willbeliveandfunctioning.

AfterE911goeslive,anyonewishingtoreceive911addresseswillbedirectedtothe911DirectorattheSheriff’sOffice. Wewillcontinuetoinformthemediaoftheprogressof911sothatthecitizensofBatesCountycanbewatchingforthenewaddressesinthemail. IfyouhaveanyquestionspleasefeelfreetocontactSheriffChadAndersonor911DirectorBrianBearceat660-679-3232.