DeKalb Emergency Communications (E-911) District Marks Milestone
by: Dwayne PageFeb 16, 2025
Marking a milestone!
Board members and staff of the DeKalb Emergency Communications (E-911) District along with several local first responders gathered Friday at the dispatch center on South Mountain Street for a meal and to commemorate a 20th anniversary.
Twenty years ago, the county and cities consolidated their emergency and non-emergency dispatch operations and relocated to a vacant building on South Mountain Street which once served as a restaurant. The celebration also marked radio communication technology upgrades made by the county and cities over the last two decades.
“We went from three different dispatch centers at the sheriff’s department, Smithville Police, and Alexandria Police to one consolidated location where everybody can communicate together,” said 911 Director Brad Mullinax.
“911 actually started in 1995 in DeKalb County,” Mullinax explained. “It started at the sheriff’s office and began with one little single phone. It was a 911 line. We shortly outgrew that location, and we were fortunate enough to get this building (present location) through the county’s efforts and us (911 board) doing some renovating to make it work for a 911 center,” said Mullinax.
“We made the move in 2005, but we started planning in 2004. I was hired late in 2004 to get this up and operational. It was a good move. We got a lot of grant money. On the very first after 9/11 there was a lot of grant funds available to help fund things we did then. Unfortunately, some of that federal funding has gone by the wayside but we are still able to tap into some state and local resources to get things done. We learned a lot of lessons from 9/11, and I think this is a direct result of some good planning on the part of the county and cities to consolidate this and make things more efficient as a result of that tragedy,” said Mullinax.
“When we moved up here in 2005 from the sheriff’s office a lot of times there was only one dispatcher on duty. Sometimes there were two. Now we have three dispatchers plus me, so we have at least doubled the staff in that amount of time, but we have call volume to support that. Call volume has picked up significantly since then. We get more calls today than in 2005,” Mullinax explained.
The DeKalb Emergency Communications (E-911) District is governed by a local board of directors made up of seven members appointed to staggered four-year terms by the county commission and city governments of Smithville and Alexandria.
“They (board) approve my budget. We are not really a county agency,” explained Mullinax. “We are more like a utility board. Most of our funding comes from the $1.50 per month you pay on your phone bill. Whether it’s a cell phone, home (landline) phone, etc. that money goes to the state, and it is turned back over to us. That is just for 911 to make sure someone answers a 911 call. Right now, there is legislation to raise it from $1.50 to $1.86 per month and that would mean an additional $200,000 per year in funding for us to further make some technology changes, hire additional staffing, and better train our staff,” Mullinax continued. “The rest of our funding is through cooperative agreements with the City of Smithville, the DeKalb County Government, and the Town of Alexandria. They contribute a portion of funding to do their non-emergency dispatching or to dispatch those emergency calls coming into 911. We follow state guidelines as far as training requirements to become a dispatcher. We have to meet those standards and then the TBI has some guidelines that FBI sent down to them that we have to follow as well as far as our National Crime Information computer operation,” he said.
For years the county had operated with a radio system made up of conventional analog technology to communicate between central dispatch and local law enforcement agencies, fire departments, EMS, and rescue squad. But over time, the system’s technology had become antiquated and more unreliable. Over the last two years the county and cities made a commitment to update their mobile, portable, and fixed radio transmission technology and to join the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network (TACN) which gives first responders, including law enforcement, fire, EMS, and healthcare providers, better communications capabilities for daily operations and the ability to talk to each other to coordinate at the local, regional, and statewide level to respond in the event of an emergency or disaster.
“This is an upgrade from our old analogue radio system and is the backbone of the Tennessee Advanced Communications Network,” said Mullinax. “We put all this (new equipment) in over the last few months. We did tap into some grant money in 2010 and were able to expand portable coverage a little bit, but we judge how affective our radio system is by how well a responder can talk on a portable radio. We went from about 50% coverage to now about 95% coverage. It works well. In 20 years, we basically have gone from doing dispatching on two different radio channels to now we have seven different digital talk groups where we can simultaneously dispatch responders,” said Mullinax.
Because of the new technology, the public won’t be able to monitor police scanner traffic as in the past because the radio communication will be encrypted.
“We are able to encrypt our traffic now, so the John Q public bad guy doesn’t know the sheriff’s department is on the way to his house. That’s been a major upgrade for us,” explained Mullinax.
TACN also has built-in redundancy to ensure the network will still offer statewide coverage in the event any location becomes inoperable after a natural or man-made disaster.
“We now have a lot more redundancy than we have had over the last 20 years,” said Mullinax. “For example, we now have redundant 911 servers, redundant CAD (computer aid dispatch) servers, and redundant locations. If this place (911 dispatch center) gets hit by a storm, we can get our operations back up with a remote trailer and not lose any of our data. There are two radio communication towers on Short Mountain so there is also redundancy there. We get very good coverage from Short Mountain. TACN is further investing in another tower at Center Hill Dam with a site on Corps property at Wolf Creek. That’s already in the planning phase. We are also looking at another location in Liberty for a site there. We are able to do much more today than we were able to do in 2005 and we are doing it more efficiently,” he said.
“The investment of us (911), the county, and the cities into this radio system has been paramount to getting this done. We have spent almost $2 million dollars collectively to make this happen but its going to be a good thing. I could never have imagined 20 years ago that we would be at this level now. I think for the future there is going to be a lot more changes including possibly automation, calling 911 automatically and being dispatched to resources that you need. I think that is coming,” said Mullinax.
While the current 911 dispatch center has served the county well over the last two decades, Mullinax said it is time to start looking for a new location.
“We have about outgrown this location now. This (equipment) room is pretty much full. I can’t get much more equipment in here. If I need to add another dispatcher, I don’t really have a place to put them at this point,” said Mullinax. “We are looking at some other options, potentially the old health department building once the health department moves out of there. That might be a good location”.
Smithville Man Charged in TBI CSAM Investigation
by: Dwayne PageFeb 16, 2025
A joint investigation involving special agents from the TBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit, the Cookeville Police Department and the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office has resulted in the arrest of a Smithville man.
In January, special agents began investigating a tip regarding child sexual abuse material on a SnapChat account.
During the investigation special agents determined 40-year-old Christopher Edward Williams of Big Hurricane Road, Smithville who worked in Cookeville, was the account owner.
On Thursday, Cookeville police took Williams into custody, charging him with Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. Officers transported him to the Dekalb County jail where he was booked on a $25,000 bond. He will be in court on March 6.
Parents seeking additional information about cybercrime, child exploitation, and how best to safeguard their loved ones can visit http://www.NetSmartz.org for a variety of topical, age-appropriate resources.
The charges and allegations referenced in this release are merely accusations of criminal conduct and not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted through due process of law.
DCHS Junior writes winning “Parent of the Month” essay for his Foster Dad
by: Dwayne PageFeb 15, 2025
An 11th grader at DCHS prepared a winning essay in tribute to his foster dad for the honor of “Parent of the Month” for January.
Ray Patterson, Braxton Spears’ foster parent, received a certificate from the school and a gift card for a meal at Jude’s Traveling Food.
“I wrote this essay about him taking me into his home several months ago and how it has changed my life in and outside of school,” said Braxton.
Spears came to live with Patterson, his foster parent after a stay at New Frontiers boys’ home. He is originally from Kentucky but came here from Clay County.
Since enrolling at DCHS, Braxton said the experience has been a good one. “My high school experience has been entertaining. I have learned a lot of new things,” he said.
His favorite high school subject is math, and he hopes to one day become a marine biologist.
Patterson said he has been a foster parent since 2004. More recently Patterson has had five boys in his care including Braxton. He also has a daughter.
“He (Braxton) needed a home, and I had a placement for him. His case worker from New Frontiers knew of me because I had another kid who lived with me who also came from New Frontiers. She thought Braxton living with me would be a good fit for him. Its working out good. He has come a long way,” said Patterson.
As for Braxton’s essay about him, Patterson said he was surprised by it but that he is proud of Braxton for having written it.