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Rock County 911 director praises staff, highlights staffing and technology needs
Summary
911 Director Fred Carr gave the board a report on call volumes, staffing, training and capital needs; he emphasized high response-rate metrics and ongoing retention and equipment concerns.
Fred Carr, director of the Rock County 911 center, briefed the Rock County Board on the center's operations, staffing and technology needs, saying the dispatch team handled tens of thousands of emergency incidents in 2024 and met strict response-time targets.
"We're really there to provide that effective public safety services 24 hours a day every day of the year," Carr said, describing the center's mission and staff commitment.
Carr told supervisors the center answers emergency calls for all county police, fire and EMS agencies from a single dispatch facility. The center's staffing includes the director, an assistant director, an administrative professional, a GIS coordinator, a training and quality-assurance manager, six shift supervisors and 36 call takers/telecommunicators. Carr described a training program that includes two weeks of orientation plus roughly 50 weeks of further training before a dispatcher is fully released to solo duty.
Key 2024 figures Carr reported: 57,579 911 calls and a total of about 276,000 phone calls across the center's lines. The center dispatched 23,825 fire and EMS calls and recorded roughly 240,000 law incidents (which may include self-initiated officer activity). Text-to-911 volumes totaled about 932 messages. Abandoned calls accounted for about 8% of call volume.
Carr said performance targets call for answering 90% of emergency calls within 15 seconds; the center achieved about 99.5% within that standard and 95% within 20 seconds. He said wages and benefits account for about 82% of the center's budget, with training and technology composing other line items.
Turnover remains a challenge, Carr said, especially among employees with fewer than four years' tenure. He reported roughly 88% turnover in that 0-to-4-years cohort in the most recent year and said retention efforts emphasize wellness, coaching and continuing education. Carr also asked the board to support capital investments including computers, backup power (generators and uninterruptible power supplies), radio improvements and other technology to sustain operations and prepare for contingencies such as building outages or remote dispatching.
Carr noted emerging technologies such as real-time transcription and translation that may improve quality assurance and efficiency. He encouraged supervisors to visit the dispatch center and thanked staff for their work.
