Letter: Mayor contacted KSP in February about its dispatch services

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio

Click the image to enlarge the document.

Monday, April 25, 2016 — Mayor John Royalty contacted the Kentucky State Police in February to ask them about having KSP perform the city’s dispatching for its police and fire departments.

In a letter obtained from KSP by an Open Records request, Royalty wrote to Kim Lewis, the KSP Post 4 telecommunications supervisor on Feb. 10, 2016, to inquire about the dispatch services.

“We currently are being served by a joint dispatch center … however, our city police are not happy with the quality fo the dispatch operations.”

“The audio quality of transmissions is poor, and the dispatchers either are not trained sufficiently on law enforcement protocol, or are not property supervised. I assume that any dispatch services from the Kentucky State Police would be more police oriented.”

The city police receive approximately 12,000 calls for service annually, and the fire department about 500 calls, the letter states

The city council’s safety committee will meet at 5 p.m. Monday to discuss the topic of contracting dispatch services and the possible impact on the city’s budget this year and next fiscal year.

The Gazette will have a full report on the committee meeting later Monday evening.

-30-