BOZEMAN — As the county continues to grow and technology continues to evolve, Gallatin County 911 is looking to replace current phone systems in the coming months so they can stay up to date with the latest technology, which dispatchers say will help their jobs and help the residents in the county.
Emily Hankins is Gallatin 911’s newest dispatcher. She says the new system is something she has worked with.
“We have to stay with the times no matter where we are, what we're doing,” says Hankins.
“So, we recognized the need for a new phone system,” says Tim Martindale, Gallatin 911 Director.
After seven years of using their current phone systems, Gallatin 911 is looking to upgrade to newer technology.
“A reliable phone system for us is really the lifeblood of our work,” says Martindale.
Martindale says dispatch gets one to three text messages in emergencies; he says this new system will help expand their texting capability.
“Also opens up in the future for picture and video messaging as well,” says Martindale.
The new system would also allow dispatch to sort calls from a specific location coming from large events like a football game to be sent to one dispatcher.
“If we have a big event such as the Bridger Fire from a couple of years ago, we can geofence that area and actually capture where all those calls are coming in and send it to one dedicated dispatcher so the rest of our team can function in a day to day capacity."
It could still be a couple of months before this new phone system rolls out as the county still has to finish out contract negotiations.
