911 Dispatch System Readies for Upgrades

(KNSI) – Dispatch centers across Minnesota will soon receive money to help modernize to a next-generation 911 system.

The state legislature set aside a special fund in the last session to help the transition, including in Benton County. Sheriff Troy Heck says the facility is going from analog to digital. “So, instead of having 911 call flow over telephone lines, we’re now going to be using a computerized network that is going to move the calls from your telephone, essentially, to the public safety answering point, the PSAP.”

The sheriff says the transition will require new training and could mean an expanded staff. “Frankly, it might even require more people, period. There’s only so much information one person can handle, and you can bring all kinds of new pieces of data into that center, but there needs to be somebody that’s going to see that, interpret it, understand it, and relay it.”

The public safety answering points will be more vulnerable when they are opened up to the electronic data. A grant from the state legislature will help improve cybersecurity protections when the system goes live. That is expected in 2025.

The grant through the Department of Public Safety was for $7 million statewide.

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