Tatum said the 911 upgrade is desperately needed by all emergency services in Muskogee County.

“Keep in mind this is computer software that was bought in 1990 or 1991, and think of it as your home computer,” he said. “If you had a 17- or 18-year-old computer, it would be running (the operating system) from way back then. We’re using old software, and we desperately need it upgraded.”

The upgrade will move the system from analog to digital and include a Computer Aided Dispatch system, Tatum said.

In all, the upgrade cost could run well over $1 million, he said.

A part of the system upgrade will include mapping the entire county, Tatum said. Part of the county now has 911 addressing, much of it doesn’t.

Many of the fire calls that come into the 911 center are transferred to the Muskogee Fire Department, where they are dispatched to either a Muskogee unit or a unit from one of the county fire departments. Dispatchers must now go to a paper map on the wall to see whose jurisdiction the fire call is in, Tatum said.

With the new system, the location will appear on a screen that not only shows the exact location, but also shows which fire department jurisdiction it is in and which department to dispatch in case backup is needed, he said.

“The computer will actually tell you this is Station Three’s run, or this is Oktaha’s run and the second unit in will be Keefeton,” he said.

The new system also will standardize how the various departments are notified, Tatum, said. Now, some departments use pagers and some the radio system. Some departments in the county may be using a party line system to notify volunteer firefighters, he said.

The new system will move the police department to the same radio system as other law enforcement agencies in the county, Eskridge said.

With the system now in use, police officers cannot directly communicate with sheriff’s deputies or Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers, he said. They must give the information to the police dispatcher, who then relays the message, he said.

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