Kent County sheriff’s office tells commissioners school radio, real‑time center and dispatch growth aim to improve response and prevention

Under Sheriff (role identified in the meeting but personal name not specified) told the Kent County Board of Commissioners that the sheriff’s office has expanded school safety, dispatch and technology efforts countywide and is seeing measurable operational results.

The sheriff’s office presentation to the board described an ARPA‑funded school radio project that links schools into a common emergency channel, a roll‑out of a FUSIS/Axon real‑time information center that aggregates body‑worn camera, in‑car video and school camera feeds, and a dispatch center that answered a high volume of calls while meeting state performance goals.

The under sheriff said the school radio initiative connects schools across the county and is paired with a plan to provide a “immediate video link” into a school when a 911 call is issued. “We do believe it would save lives if ever needed as well as provide immediate response for all the state, local, and federal partners that may respond to a critical incident like this,” the under sheriff said.

Board members were given dispatch metrics the office tracks: the joint county dispatch system handled roughly 380,000 calls in 2024 (the speaker cited “almost 380,000 calls in 02/2024” when reviewing the annual metrics), and the sheriff’s office reported answering 97.83% of 911 calls within 15 seconds, exceeding the stated target of 95% within 15 seconds. The sheriff’s office also noted a 99.99% answer rate within 40 seconds.

The presentation described how license‑plate recognition (LPR) technology (referred to in the meeting as Flock technology) has supported investigations and traffic‑crime reductions. The under sheriff said LPRs helped reduce pursuits (from roughly 150 to 80 in one year) and that stolen‑vehicle reports fell from more than 500 to fewer than 200 per year after the technology was adopted in 2022. “That technology is being used to prevent what we had seen as the juvenile population taking cars, initiating with pursuits, and putting the community at risk,” the under sheriff said.

On privacy and data sharing, the sheriff’s office said the LPR vendor does not own the data and that contractual terms make the license‑plate data the property of the Kent County Sheriff’s Office. The office said it will share LPR data with other law‑enforcement agencies only when it supports a criminal investigation.

Commissioners asked about use‑of‑force accounting and policy. The under sheriff said the department treats any presentation of a deadly‑force weapon and any hands‑on contact that exceeds simple control as a use of force, and that every such incident is recorded and reviewed in the Axon Professional Standards module and by supervisors and command staff. “Anything that raises any concerns is then transferred over to our professional standards division,” the under sheriff said.

The board also heard updates on the marine patrol (partially funded by a state grant, supplemented by general fund dollars), a part‑time drone division and ongoing counter‑drone planning, accreditation accomplishments, cybersecurity improvements of the Grand Rapids and sheriff’s dispatch centers, and an early‑stage embedded Network180 social worker in dispatch intended to change co‑response dynamics.

Commissioners praised the presentation and asked for follow‑up metrics on the Network180 embedded model and the marine patrol’s funding changes. The under sheriff said the county and the sheriff’s office will work with partners to develop appropriate metrics and to refine funding and staffing plans.

The under sheriff closed by inviting further questions and offering to provide additional documentation to the board.

Ending: The board did not take formal action on any of the sheriff’s office items during this presentation; the session was questions and answers. Commissioners asked the sheriff’s office to return with metrics and updates as programs (the embedded social‑work pilot, school radio expansions and real‑time information center scaling) develop.