JANUARY 3, 2025|
Photo – SPD patch – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Sheriff’s Department will handle dispatching services for Encampment, moving Carbon County one step closer to having a single emergency call center.
During the December 17th Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Alex Bakken presented a Memorandum of Understanding between his department and the town of Encampment. Sheriff Bakken explained that like Baggs and Wamsutter, Encampment has agreed to pay the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office to handle emergency police and fire dispatching services. Additionally, the town will funnel all emergency 911 service charge funds to the county instead of Saratoga.
Sheriff Bakken said the town of Encampment has agreed to pay his department $10,000 a year for dispatching services. The Board of Commissioners agreed to sign the MOU between Encampment and the Sheriff’s Department.
The inclusion of Encampment in the list of municipalities served by the Sheriff’s Office brings the county closer to Sheriff Bakken’s proposed idea to combine all dispatching services under one roof.
Currently, emergency dispatching in Carbon County is divided among three different entities: the Sheriff’s Department, and the Saratoga and Rawlins Police Departments, with Saratoga covering Encampment. Having three separate departments manage emergency calls creates difficulties, such as finding money to upgrade the individual dispatch centers, recruiting dispatchers for each location, and transferring 911 calls between agencies.
The challenges of operating three separate dispatch facilities became apparent in late 2023 when Saratoga Police Chief Mike Morris, citing a shortage of full-time dispatchers, arranged for the Sheriff’s Department to cover the town. Additionally, Chief Morris mentioned that his department required approximately $750,000 in equipment upgrades.
After signing the agreement with Saratoga, Sheriff Bakken began investigating the possibility of creating a single county-wide emergency call center. In May of 2024, Sheriff Bakken, Saratoga Police Chief Morris, and Rawlins Police Chief Mike Ward created the Combined Dispatch Operations Collaborative Working Group to investigate ways to improve how emergency calls are handled in the county. In July, the working group held a public meeting in Saratoga to inform residents that they were considering consolidating all dispatch services under the Sheriff’s Office. However, little additional information has been released since that time.
Currently, the Saratoga Police Department handles emergency dispatch calls for the town of Encampment. During the December 17th Saratoga town council meeting, Clerk Jennifer Anderson read a letter from Encampment Mayor Shannon Fagan ending the town’s longstanding emergency dispatch agreement with Saratoga.
Later in the meeting, Acting Police Chief Lieutenant John Moore informed the governing body that dispatch services will end on December 31st. Councilman Bub Barkhurst asked if the Encampment Police Department was influenced by the sheriff’s proposed combined dispatch center. Lieutenant Moore admitted that may have been a factor in ending the agreement. However, the acting chief said the decision appears to have been based more on financial considerations.
The Board of Commissioners supports a single county-wide emergency dispatch center for its potential to improve call response times and save money.
