Clinton County emergency dispatchers will be able to pinpoint a 911 call’s location and if needed, translate a foreign language, as early as the end of the year.
Clinton County Central Dispatch will contract with a company called INdigital after its AT&T contract runs out. Clinton County Central Dispatch Director Renee Crick says switching from AT&T to INdigital will save $75,000 a year, in addition to adding new features, including the so-called “language line.”
“If someone calls 911, whether they speak Spanish, or Chinese, Japanese – any foreign language that we would not be able to communicate with them, we can automatically connect to a language line, which will automatically translate for us,” Crick says.
Dispatch Director Renee Crick says once the change comes, resident service won’t be affected.
“We’re hoping by the end of the year, or because of the holidays, it may be the very beginning of the year, but there should not be any changes at all in any type of service and there won’t be any downtime,” Crick says.
She says the only preparation the county needs is some “in-house training” before the cutover.
Crick says surrounding counties, including Tippecanoe and Carroll, also use the service.
Clinton County’s INdigital contract runs five years.