Fort Bend County reviews 911 system amid dispatch dispute
A dispute over a recent change in dispatching procedures has prompted some Fort Bend County officials to consider stripping Sheriff Troy Nehls of his authority over the emergency response system in unincorporated areas.
Fort Bend County Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said his office is reviewing how other counties, such as Montgomery and Williamson counties, use third-party emergency agencies — independent of the sheriff ’s office — to dispatch deputies when a
911 call comes in.
“Let’s see if that is a model that is workable for Fort Bend County,” Meyers said.
County Judge KP George said he’s in discussions with Meyers and Nehls, but wants to review all the data before he makes a decision. The topic is slated to come up at the next Commissioner’s Court meeting on Feb. 26, he said.
“We know there is a problem,” George said, adding he and Meyers will conduct a “complete analysis” to learn what they can from other counties. “We’re not going to reinvent the wheel.”
Prior to Jan. 1, the sheriff ’s office would dispatch the closest deputy — from the sheriff’s office or a constable’s office — to a service call. But since then, the sheriff’s dispatchers have not been summoning constable’s deputies — even in neighborhoods the constable is under contract to patrol, said Precinct 3 Constable Wayne Thompson.
Thompson believes the policy change will lead to higher response times. In at least one instance, Thompson said, sheriff ’s deputies arrived at a scene seven minutes after a constable’s deputy had arrived.
“I don’t think there is any reason that they can give that justifies why they would not dispatch us to calls,” Thompson said.
According to the sheriff ’s office, the change has led to faster, not slower, response times.
In statement, Chief Deputy David Marcaurele said the sheriff’s office had compared average response times to dispatched calls for a six-month pe-
riod prior to January. He said the switch had reduced response times in three of its patrol districts, including District 5, which covers most of Fort Bend County Precinct 3.
“The result is that we saw a 14.4 second reduction in average response time to dispatched calls,” Marcaurele said. “We will take an improvement of service any day, and in the end, know that is what is expected of our dedicated employees working in dispatch and those deputies (sheriff and constable) working in the field.”
Thompson called the estimates from the sheriff’s office “out-ofcontext,” because “January is a slow month and there’s no way you can compare that to the last six months.”
The sheriff’s new policy “doesn’t make a whole lot of sense” to Meyers, who said he’s received complaints from residents, homeowners associations, municipal utility districts and the county fire marshal.
“We’ve got a certified peace officer who is in the neighborhood,” Meyers said, referring to constable’s deputies. “He is just as certified as a sheriff ’s deputy. Just because his services are paid directly by the subdivision, rather than through the property taxes that are paid generally, to me that doesn’t make a difference between their qualifications.”
House alarms make up the majority of calls, and Meyers said he is not aware of any instances where someone was injured or burglarized as a result of a delay in service.
“I just don’t want there to be a case where that happens,” he said. “What I want is — if we have a certified peace officer on site, dispatch him. I don’t care if he is a constable or a sheriff ’s deputy or he is contract or regular. If he’s there, that’s the guy that you dispatch because they can get there the quickest.”
Meyers said his office’s research found that in counties similar in size to Fort Bend, such as Williamson and Montgomery counties, residents benefited from a third-party dispatch center.
Montgomery County has roughly 200,000 fewer people than Fort Bend County, which is home to roughly 760,000 people, according to recent census data. The Montgomery County Emergency Communication District, run by a board of managers, handles all emergency calls in Montgomery County.
Marcaurele said the debate was political.
“(Thompson) did not like this change and has put out information that has alarmed people and created a political scenario based upon fear and not reality,” he said.
George said the county is taking the issue seriously.
“It is about the safety and security of our citizens and that’s going to be very close to my heart personally,” George said. “We are going to fix it. We are going to fix it.”