Officers Quit Over Change in Comm Center

Three police officers in Lyons (Kan.) have resigned and the town has received several citizen complaints after the town council voted to stop having Rice County handle non-emergency telephone calls, and instead have officers handle them from their car using cellular phones. The town made the switch to the county to save money, and now has county dispatchers handle only 911 calls, and transfer non-emergencies to voicemail and notify officers via mobile laptops. The officers said they quit over safety issues now that most dispatching is performed using mobile laptops rather than voice. “They took away an essential part of our tool of being dispatched and want us to do it by cell phone,” said former officer Cody Luck. Several citizens said they dialed 911, but a response was delayed or the dispatcher transferred the caller to an answering machine. Read more about the dispatching set-up here, and another view of the situation here.