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Sheriff details jail population, 911 mapping issues and search‑and‑rescue resources
Summary
The sheriff reported 162 people in custody and rising call volumes, introduced the county’s new dispatch director and warned of compatibility and cost issues for a planned Stowman/Motorola dispatch upgrade; the county will rely on state drone assets for search missions while evaluating local purchases.
The county sheriff told the board the county jail held 162 inmates as of the previous day and described a 58‑day period that brought roughly 470 bookings. The sheriff also highlighted staffing vacancies in both enforcement and dispatch and introduced Lindsey Mallard as the newly appointed director of the county emergency dispatch center.
On emergency communications, the sheriff and commissioners discussed the county’s current Stowman/RMS system, an existing lease and a longer‑term upgrade plan that would likely begin procurement work in August 2026 with a possible server replacement and full version upgrade around February 2027. The sheriff said the current system “works” but lacks some “bells and whistles” requested by end users, and noted a specific compatibility problem between the 9‑1‑1 center GIS mapping and courthouse mapping programs that must be resolved before a software upgrade.
The sheriff also provided recent call‑volume statistics: about 3,350 total calls dispatched countywide during the reviewed period, with law‑enforcement and ambulance responses among the largest categories. He described a multi‑agency roundtable to address crime and abandoned properties in the Gardens North subdivision, and said short‑term steps under consideration included posting no‑trespassing signage and pursuing property‑owner outreach and code enforcement.
Regarding search and rescue, the sheriff said the county evaluated purchasing a drone but found the specialized units needed for mountainous missions expensive; instead, the county has access to a state drone resource stationed in Riverton for high‑priority missions and used it successfully in a recent search for missing children.
What happens next: the communications committee will continue to explore mapping compatibility fixes and long‑range replacement costs; the sheriff will report back on staffing and budget details when the county compiles a mid‑year budget review.
