Leaders in Boone condemn App State’s efforts to create 911 dispatch center

BOONE, N.C. — County and city leaders in Boone are condemning Appalachian State University’s efforts to create its own 911 dispatch center next fall.

Law enforcement said they were never notified of those plans.

Right now, calls to 911 come into a dispatch center near the Watauga County Sheriff’s office. But App State says fiber optic is already being installed to send the calls from its property to the on-campus police department.

Boone Police Chief Andy Lebeau has concerns about the changes being proposed by the university.

“We’re concerned that calls from off campus will get routed to a 911 center on campus, and then that call would have to be transferred to the county communication center,” he said.

But the App State police chief said calls coming directly to the police department on campus could cut response times, saying, “it takes App State police an average of one to three minutes to respond to any call on university property and they have keyed access to all university buildings, further reducing the time to enter a building.”

First responders say if ambulances or fire trucks are needed, calls would have to be rerouted to the county dispatch center, possibly delaying response times.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty spoke with Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman. He and others believe one solution instead of the new call center may be placing a telecommunicator with the university police department in the county 911 center to alleviate concerns about response times.

“That way everybody -- whether it’s Boone, the county, ASU -- would have the same opportunity to hear and listen in to the initial call that’s calling for help,” Hagaman said.

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