The newly appointed Winn Emergency 911 board named Sheriff Josh McAllister chairman at its initial meeting July 25.  Police Juror Darrell Franks will service as vice chairman.  Others appointed by the Police Jury are EMT Russell Johnson, Winn Parish Fire Chief Dustin Parker, Winnfield Police Chief Johnny Ray Carpenter, Winnfield Mayor Gerald Hamms and Winnfield Fire Chief Brian Montgomery.

The system that has been providing additional security for Winn residents since the 1980s was launched out of efforts to bring affordable fire insurance rates for rural homeowners, 32-year 911 veteran Don Garrett had earlier told the police jury.  Only the most expensive fire category of 10 was assigned to those living outside the city of Winnfield, if insurance was available at all.

The Rural Fire District and the Emergency 911 system were necessary to bring those rates down.  Much of the impetus for both was provided by Cranford Jordan who remained involved with each through the years, he said.

A challenge facing the new board is one that confronted 911 from its outset, only more expensive.  That is advance of communication technology.  The system worked best at its start when virtually all phones were landlines and incoming 911 calls could be accurately traced to their source.  Garrett gave an example of 911 working at its best:

A 5-year-old kindergartener walked home but her mother, a teacher, was not yet home and the child panicked.  As taught in school, she called 911 and cried that her mother was gone.  The dispatcher (who Garrett terms “the most important link”) while dispatching a police unit to the home, maintained calm conversation with the hysterical child.  She got the child’s name, assured her that the police would find her mother right away and that a policeman would soon be at her home.  “He’s your friend.  Let him come in.”  About that time, the police car did arrive and not long thereafter, the mother too came home.  All was resolved.

Communications technology—cell phones, smart phones, texting—have complicated the 911 process.  Multiple signal towers are necessary to triangulate an accurate location of a mobile call and Winn may never be large enough to have that tower density.  Since its beginning, Winn’s 911 system has seen four system upgrades and the “next generation” could cost well over $700,000.

Currently, about 50% of the phone lines in Winn are still landlines.  But the other 50% are cell phones.  Of the cellphones, about 20% are Smartphones, meaning their signals go directly to satellite where GPS is available.

“Fees for Winn’s 911 service have never increased,” said Garrett.  “They are 55 cents for a landline, 85 cents for cell phone and $1.43 for business line.  The board had the wisdom to set aside 60% of payments from the start and has been able to pay for upgrades until this point.”  His report to the jury indicated that Winn’s 911 is in sound shape financially…but not $700,000 or $800,000 worth.  “Truly, Winn has so few customers (and our population is declining) that a rate increase wouldn’t make up that difference.”

Garrett said that companies that handle 911 upgrades anticipate the local 911 systems have their own offices, dispatchers and technicians.  He explained that 911 calls within the city are routed through to the Winnfield Police Department while rural calls go to the Sheriff’s Office.  Volunteers who’ve assisted the system through these years have been the “technicians” while “the office is the back of my pickup truck,” he said in relation of handling mapping and bookkeeping for the system.

Winn’s system is small and will remain that way.  Fees bring in about $140,000 annually.  “Real” 911 calls may be as few as 2 or 3 monthly, mostly auto accidents, folks lost in the woods or lost on the lake and domestic calls.  Additional traffic may be “test” calls, perhaps youngsters who’ve just learned about 911 in school who are calling to see if it works.

“The challenge for the new 911 board will be to work within the parameters of what we can afford…to stay within the money.”