VIDEO: The Smith County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to approve nearly $1 million in upgrades to the county’s 911 dispatch equipment, modernizing technology that has been in use for over 15 years. The $994,248 upgrade will replace eight dispatch consoles used to communicate with law enforcement, fire and EMS personnel. County leaders said the improvements are necessary due to upgrades being made in Harris County, which Smith County is connected to as part of a regional network.
“Smith County since that 2008-to-2010-time frame has been tied to the Harris County core, which is basically the brains of the communications system,” said George Arnold with Mobile Communications America.
Smith County Judge Neal Franklin said the Harris County upgrades pushed the timeline for Smith County’s improvements. “That’s what kind of pushed this. But it was time. You heard it’d been 15 or 20 years in use. That’s a long life in technology,” Franklin said.
