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Dispatch Dispute: County and city clash over delayed services
Published
Modified
Editor’s note: This is the second part in a series on the separation of dispatch resources between the city of Rio Rancho and Sandoval County.
It’s been a war of words between local governments over an important community issue: dispatch.
Sandoval County administration announced in October that the new Public Safety Emergency Communications Center of Sandoval County was taking all 911 calls. Prior to that, the city of Rio Rancho was taking those calls despite the county stating it was ready July 1. The delay prompted an argument between the two government agencies and also begged an investigation into the separation of dispatch operations.
Interviews with city and county officials highlighted each entity’s point of view when it came to the delay in services.
911 Rerouted
County Manager Wayne Johnson and Deputy County Manager Eric Masterson shared their thoughts on the delay in two interviews Sept. 16 and 24. Deputy City Manager Peter Wells along with dispatch manager Jolene Madrid and Deputy Chief Gabriel Salgado talked about the city perspective Sept. 24.
“I think it’s a reflection of everything that’s gone on for the last four or five years to be honest with you. Frankly, we’re here where we are today because of the actions or inactions of Rio Rancho,” Johnson said of the ongoing argument. “If they had been willing to follow their agreements (in the previous joint powers agreement), if they would have been willing to mediate and if they hadn’t withdrawn from the (Sandoval County Regional Emergency Communications Center), then we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about dispatch.”
“Sandoval County supports all law enforcement and will not let an administrative dispute result in officer safety concerns for any jurisdiction,” Masterson said.
For Wells, it was inexcusable that “the county did not have an operational 911 center on July 1, 2025,” as promised and as publicly released. He said the county had an obligation to uphold and wasn’t transparent with the true issues dispatch was encountering.
The county cited vendor issues as the cause of the delay in full 911 services at the new dispatch center.
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Johnson explained that the finish date for Lumen Technologies to complete their end of the agreement kept moving. He didn’t share any dates at the time because of the project’s unspecific nature.
“We’re operating, we’re dispatching all of the various units and we’re working through the discomfort that’s going on. I’m really sorry that it’s an inconvenience for Rio Rancho to transfer these calls over to us, but we’re talking about two to three an hour that are being transferred. We don’t believe that, despite their reluctance, that it’s an undue burden on their center, particularly because of the fact that they’re the reason we’re here,” Johnson said.
Despite the project being “fraught with trouble,” as he put it, he said the county has kept the best interest of the community at heart.
“Is it optimum? No. Is it what we wanted? No. Is it what we were promised by our vendors? No. We were supposed to be live on July 1. Obviously it didn’t happen. But we’re doing our absolute best to make sure that when people call 911, they get the service that they need in their time of need, and that has always been the case,” he said.
Wells’ argument was that the county had 19 months, since the city exited the previous joint powers agreement, to get the center online.
“Jolene’s staff have had to pick up this burden, and it is a burden to our center,” Wells said.
Wells stated that from July 1 to the interview date, the city had transferred approximately 4,000 calls that would have been the county’s responsibility. After some light math, that totals to about three to four calls per hour.
Madrid went into more detail about the “burden” on her and her staff. She added that they were taking anywhere from 40-90 calls a day for the county but in addition to that, they were having to stay on the phone with some of the callers.
“My staff are having to stay on the phone with that caller for almost up to an hour just because of the rural areas (while they wait for response),” she said.
She added that high-priority calls require them to stay on the line as well, explaining that it is not ideal to transfer someone in more serious situations.
If Rio Rancho can’t take the calls, Madrid said, the calls are routed to Santa Fe, which is the city’s back up operator. She said the burden is then shifted to them.
The county’s current backup is Bernalillo County.
Staff and NCIC
Madrid explained the added strain on her staff hasn’t just come from additional calls.
“I’ve talked directly to my staff. They’ve been pretty frustrated. Initially, we had a staff between six to eight a day. We dropped that staffing with the anticipation of the cut over with Sandoval County being live on July 1, so since then, we’ve had to increase the overtime to accommodate for the calls that we’re taking,” she said.
One issue Madrid brought up was their National Crime Information Center capabilities, which allows the FBI to monitor warrants and protection orders in a database. She said Rio Rancho dispatch was handling all of the county’s NCIC entries.
“When their staff went live on July 1, none of the staff had been trained or certified in NCIC,” she said.
Where the burden came into play with NCIC, according to Madrid, was when the dispatchers were having to take down information when officers wanted to check information during a traffic stop or otherwise.
“If there was an arrest made, we had to process the entire arrest. When it comes to missing persons, same thing because the county wasn’t capable of handling without the NCIC traffic,” she said.
Wells said NCIC was another obligation the county failed to uphold. On top of that, Wells alleged the county was not entering warrants and restraining orders in a timely manner. He did say there was some compensation by the county during that time but insisted it was minimal and that the county hadn’t held up their end of the agreement.
The county said they are fully trained and staffed to handle everything that comes with the NCIC database. Masterson addressed the accusation that the county wasn’t following the recommended timeline for NCIC data entry.
“When the state authorized the (Public Safety Emergency Communications Center) of Sandoval County to begin entering data into NCIC, our operators followed the approved PSECC policy, which is in line and compliant with the FBI NCIC manual, and they were entering data within the required 72 hours,” he said.
“Rio Rancho may have a different policy and timeframe to enter data, but that would be an internal policy and not a requirement. The PSECC of Sandoval County understands the importance of entering NCIC information as it is critical to officer safety. Our operators work hard to ensure this information is entered in a timely manner so that the appropriate information can be relayed to law enforcement when it is requested.”
According to Masterson, the city had been using the county’s NCIC Originating Agency Number as well.
“When this was discovered, Rio Rancho had to work with the state to obtain its own number. However, in the interim, the county continued to allow the city to use the county number at no cost to the city. The PSECC of Sandoval County and the Sandoval County administration recognized the importance of NCIC information regarding officer safety and agreed to allow the city to utilize the ORI to enter pertinent information,” he said.
Lastly, Masterson stated the city was compensated to staff an extra 24/7 dispatch position.
“$1,000 per day was the number proposed by the city. They staffed one extra dispatcher 24/7 and determined that the overtime cost for one person, over 24 hours, was $1,000,” he said.
The county stated they paid that amount for 34 days, totaling $34,000.
