Officials: Response times may be slower
Members criticize sheriff’s decision on radio frequencies
Comments (...)DIXON – The Lee County sheriff’s decision to change a radio frequency could delay emergency responses, officials told the County Board on Thursday.
That’s because it’s making communication between agencies more difficult. The agencies are on different frequencies, so everyone isn’t hearing what’s going on with their counterparts as quickly as before they said.
Sheriff John Varga said no one told him about a problem with communications.
At the board’s regular meeting, Shelley Dallas, the Lee County 911 agency’s director, criticized the sheriff’s order to move Amboy and Franklin Grove to another frequency. It’s the same radio system as the Sheriff’s Department’s.
The officials said the new frequency doesn’t work well for the departments, and dispatchers now must do double dispatches for certain emergencies, Dallas said.
That takes valuable time, she added.
“Seconds save lives,” Dallas said in an interview.
The Sheriff’s Department pulled its equipment with which it can hear what’s going on with other agencies, so it sometimes take longer for the department to find out about emergencies other departments are dealing with, she said.
“I hope we can come up with some sort of compromise,” Dallas said.
Dixon police Lt. Brad Sibley, chairman of the 911 board, said he didn’t believe the sheriff had the authority to make decisions about other agencies’ frequencies. He said he was told to see the Lee County state’s attorney about the matter.
State’s Attorney Henry Dixon indicated that the sheriff’s order was outside the department’s authority, Sibley said.
Dixon based his opinion on a “limited conversation” and didn’t make any decision, Sibley said.
“He suggested getting all the parties together and talk,” Sibley said.
Dixon was away from the office Tuesday.
Varga said he made the change because of the Sheriff’s Department’s tight budget. He said the frequency the other departments were using was given to the county’s emergency management office.
“The Sheriff’s Department has been paying for the maintenance [of the equipment]. We can’t continue to afford maintenance for down county,” he said.
Varga said a County Board meeting was not the place to discuss interagency issues. He looked at Sibley, saying he was “very disappointed” in how the 911 chairman was handling the issue.
“No one has come to talk with me,” the sheriff said.
He also said he gave the departments 10 months to prepare. The sheriff let the other departments know about the change last February.
Dallas disagreed with the sheriff’s statement that he wasn’t informed about the problems with his order. She said she had talked with him about it a couple of times before the order took effect Dec. 1.
Varga said no one had spoken with him since the 911 board’s meeting on Jan. 26. He said he was told to show up for that meeting about 2 hours before, but his schedule already was filled up.
Things got tense between Varga and the other officials during the meeting. At one point, the sheriff disputed what Dallas was saying, telling her to provide the “full facts.”
The subject of 911 came up after a report from County Board member Greg Witzleb, R-Dixon. Witzleb, a member of the 911 board, spoke about the Jan. 26 meeting. But he didn’t mention the dispute, even though it took up a good portion of the meeting minutes.
Member Judy Truckenbrod, R-West Brooklyn, asked Witzleb whether it had been resolved.
Witzleb pointed to Varga, Sibley and Dallas.
According to the 911 board’s Jan. 26 minutes, the removal of communications equipment from sheriff’s squad cars is hindering the ability of deputies to communicate with other emergency responders during incidents requiring several agencies.
Also, lack of radio coverage in areas such as Amboy means officers must use landlines and cellphones at times, the minutes state.
Amboy and Franklin Grove officials couldn’t be reached for comment Tuesday.
After the officials sparred Tuesday, County Board member Dick Binder, R-Compton, said the issue shouldn’t be brought to the board at this stage.
The discussion ended.
The 911 board minutes indicated members wanted to set up a meeting with the sheriff.
In a later interview, Varga said he was willing to speak with anyone about concerns with his decision.
“We wouldn’t want people to be unsafe,” he said.
Sibley said later Tuesday that he hoped the various parties could get together and talk.
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