Houston 911 getting $6.5 million upgrade

The Houston County 911 Center is getting a $6.5 million upgrade.

The County Commission on Tuesday approved a contract with Motorola Solutions, Inc. for the upgrade. It will be funded by money from the 2012 special purpose local option sales tax.

The upgrade will include a complete replacement of all wiring, electronics and furniture. It is being done primarily to replace equipment installed in 2003 that is nearing the age when reliability is an issue.

“This upgrade could mean the life of one of your loved ones if you call 911,” said Houston County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Ricky Harlowe, commander of the 911 Center.

He noted two new capabilities the system will have. One is that callers will be able to send a text message to 911. That can be useful in certain situations, such as when someone is hiding from an intruder.

Another is that the new system will allow dispatchers to link to surveillance camera systems that are monitored online by an alarm company. When an alarm call comes in from a location that has that service, the dispatcher will be able to view those cameras and tell responding officers what is happening at the location. The property owner would have to agree beforehand to make the cameras available to the 911 center.

The installation process will begin soon and is expected to take a year.

The 911 operations will move into its training center while the new equipment is installed. Harlowe said the same thing was done in 2003 when the current system was installed.

Disruptions in service aren’t expected, but if they occur, the county has an agreement for 911 calls to go through Peach County 911 if there is a issue at the Houston Center, he said.

“We feel comfortable in saying it should be seamless and we should have zero downtime,” Harlowe said. “If we do, we have plans in place.”

The original cost of the project had been $7 million, but due to lagging sales tax revenue some of the costs were trimmed.

“We got most of the stuff that we really wanted,” said Commissioner Larry Thomson, who worked closely on the project.

This story was originally published September 6, 2016 at 2:02 PM with the headline "Houston 911 getting $6.5 million upgrade."