KENTON, Ohio (WLIO) – This week, Gov. Mike DeWine announced that Hardin County is one of eight Ohio counties selected to participate in the Next Generation 911 pilot program. The initiative aims to modernize emergency service technology infrastructure, improving response times and communication capabilities.
Time is critical when someone calls 911, and the new program will allow emergency personnel to route calls more efficiently and pass along vital information seamlessly across counties.
"It allows us to have a robust system that can route calls efficiently, effectively, and we can pass that information along to a different county," Emily Roy, Communications Coordinator with the Hardin County Sheriff's Office explained. "For instance, if there's someone on the line between us and Hancock County, and they're driving and they're going up into Hancock County, we can take that phone call initially because it would ideally ring into our county. We could take that information—the caller themselves and their geographical location information— pass that right up to Hancock County and say, 'Hey, here's our caller. He or she is right here. This is their latitude and their longitude, we know exactly where they're at,' and they can keep following them as they go along." said Emily Roy, communications coordinator with the Hardin County Sheriff’s Office.
The program is also designed to accommodate modern communication methods, including text messaging.
"Even if they didn't call us, we would be able to send a text message to that phone," Roy added. "If it's a well-being check and someone is concerned about their friend or family member, we would be able to do that."
The Next Generation 911 system is scheduled to become operational statewide this spring.
Hardin County Sheriff Keith Everhart expressed enthusiasm about the pilot program, highlighting its potential to improve service for residents and travelers.
“There are a lot of 911 calls that come in now that the caller may hang up or, again, be in a rural part of the county, and we don’t have the ability to geotrack them,” Everhart said. “If they are traveling, say into Allen County, we don’t have the ability to be able to call Allen County and say, ‘You have a problem with this person, and this is where they’re at.’ We can tell them, ‘We think this is where they’re at because of what they said,’ but we don’t know for sure, so this is going to provide a better service to everyone.”
In addition to the technological benefits, Hardin County will also save money by participating in the pilot program.
"Financial end of things, since we are a pilot program, we are not paying for a lot of the infrastructure that we'd normally have to pay for. As a pilot county, we're saving the taxpayers a lot of local tax dollars," Sheriff Everhart said.
The Next Generation 911 system is scheduled to become operational statewide this spring.
