Sheriff Garrett briefed the Rockwall County Infrastructure Consortium on current public‑safety infrastructure, maintenance needs and projects the sheriff’s office and partner agencies are planning or seeking funding for.

The most immediate item Garrett described was the countywide P25 digital radio system. "Several years ago we invested in a countywide radio system," Garrett said. He said Rockwall County funded the system and that each city is a participant, which provides interoperability across law‑enforcement and fire agencies. He said the system is now encrypted and integrated with at least one school district and that a planned hardware refresh will begin after the system’s eighth year of operation.

Garrett gave several operational details: the maintenance contract’s eighth year concludes May 31, 2026; there are six towers in the county providing redundancy; scheduled maintenance will be conducted in non‑peak hours (likely 2–5 a.m.); and planned upgrades may require short site outages. He warned that some items — a logging recorder, microwave ring replacement and battery backups for tower sites — will require future funding decisions.

Training and facilities were a second focus. Garrett said the county has grown sharply — "approximately 92%–94% since 2017" — and agencies need more local training capacity. He said the law‑enforcement firearms range, completed in February 2006, now needs repairs and modernized targeting and computer systems. He also discussed agency accountability for shared facilities and the need to clarify storage and equipment rules at shared ranges.

Garrett described a grant the county received that includes two "drone‑in‑a‑box" DFR (drone first responder) systems and license‑plate readers. "We're getting two in this grant and they should be in service by late 2025," he said, adding that each drone can operate to about a three‑mile radius (subject to FAA waivers for beyond‑visual‑line‑of‑sight operation). The drones are intended to provide rapid overwatch on critical calls and to speed situational awareness for dispatch and first responders.

Garrett also discussed mobile command posts and the county’s interest in acquiring smaller, more modular units that would be easier to deploy than the existing, very large vehicle currently assigned to a fire station. He suggested pursuing grants to station smaller command posts around the county for unified on‑scene communications that would also integrate with the radio system.

Commissioner Bobby Galana asked whether the sheriff’s office could develop a model to quantify the impact of growth on emergency services and to estimate developer or private‑sector contributions for future infrastructure. Garrett said that was feasible: "Looking at the projected growth... what has been approved... I think that's definitely possible," he said.

Other specifics Garrett gave: ongoing equipment staging will require storage space; fire station alerting is a city‑purchased function that integrates with dispatch centers; and battery backups on tower sites are a frequent maintenance concern. He said additional DFR assets will be considered based on operational stats from the first two drones.

Ending: Garrett asked for questions and said the briefing was intended to flag potential future requests for equipment, personnel and funding as Rockwall County continues to grow and its public‑safety demands rise.