Conservators of the peace

Attendees of an alumni reunion for the  25^th anniversary of the Goochland Sheriff’s Academy were treated to a tour of the county’s new emergency communications center on October 25.

Deputy Shawn Creasey, who organized the reunion, kicked off the evening with a screening of a public service announcement video created by students at Goochland High School reminding people not to leave valuables in their vehicles and to lock the doors. Larcenies from cars, when people take things from vehicles, especially those left unlocked, have increased dramatically. 

Sheriff James L. Agnew presented a brief update on activity. The Sheriff’s Office is responsible for law enforcement in Goochland. That includes traffic response; criminal apprehension; patrol; answering a wide variety of calls for service; extended investigations of serious crimes; providing court security; and transporting prisoners from Department of Corrections facilities throughout the state for court appearances.

Last year, the  H&K 45 mm firearms carried by Goochland Deputies were replaced with Sig Sauer P320s. These guns, said Agnew, are smaller, lighter, easier to shoot, and have a ten year life span.

Our deputies are now equipped with body cams. “We know our guys are doing a fantastic job, now it’s confirmed on video,” the Sheriff said. As more lawyers are requesting these videos, especially in car crash cases,  FOIA  requests have skyrocketed.

Goochland, said Agnew, to no one’s surprise, is growing. A hotel, hospital, major subdivisions, and apartments are coming to the east end of the county in the next few years. More people bring more traffic accidents and opportunities for criminal activity.  When people live in close proximity to one another, the potential for violent interaction escalates. All of these factors have an impact on service delivery.

More deputies will be needed to handle increased calls, said Agnew. Finding new people with the proper skills, and personal integrity is a challenge in Goochland as it is with other law enforcement agencies. The current social environment, contended Agnew, discourages seeking careers in law enforcement. Agnew believes it is better to have a vacant position than to hire someone lacking the necessary attributes to make a good deputy.

Agnew presented some statistics from the past few years.

Traffic is a high priority concern. The most dangerous intersection in the county by far is the Rt. 288/Broad Street Road interchange. VDOT—the state agency whose motto is “Oops!”—has promised improvements there, but not until 2020 at the earliest. Poorly designed and overburdened roads are only part of the cause of accidents. Distracted  and drunk drivers contribute to the problem.

For patrol purposes, Goochland is divided into six beats. The northeast beat, which includes Centerville and the Broad Street Road corridor to the Henrico border, generated the lion’s share of calls during 2016. County geography, said Agnew, presents a major challenge. It is about 36 miles from Randolph Square in the county’s southeast to Shannon Hill in the northwest. Given the road network and ever increasing traffic, Agnew said is it impossible to travel the distance in 35 minutes.

Calls estimated for the last quarter of 2017

While every effort is made to have deputies in all parts of the county, when someone needs backup, officers will be diverted to help.

For more detailed information about the operation of the Sheriff’s Office, enroll in the next Citizen’s Academy, which is expected to start next year.

The group then toured the new combined Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and Emergency Communications Center (ECC).

Grafted on to the back of the Sheriff's Office, the new facility will serve Goochland well for many years.

Grafted on to the back of the Sheriff’s office, this spacious state-of-the-art facility brings emergency communications in Goochland into the 21^st century. The new facility, said Agnew,  is the brainchild of  the vision of Chief Deputy Major Don Bewkes, who shepherded it from vision to reality.

Dispatch, the county’s nerve center, where phones are answered by a real person 24/7/365, is better equipped to help deputies and fire-rescue respond to emergencies than ever before.  No longer will dispatchers work their 12 hour shift in quarters so cramped they almost sat in each other’s pockets.

The new EOC/ECC has ample room for many large monitors.

Thanks to a new $10 or so million county-wide communications system mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, which includes new towers around the county, the “dead spots” where deputies, who typically patrol alone, were unable to radio for back up, are a thing of the past.

“We can hear what they’re saying, clear as a bell,” said Tammy Witt, who has more than 20 years’ experience as  a Goochland dispatcher.   Poor signals sometimes garbled transmissions between dispatch, deputies and fire-rescue providers, a cause for concern in emergences when every second matters.

Banks of computers, radios, and wall mounted monitors displaying security camera feed, give the dispatchers real time eyes on the courthouse complex, including holding cells.

Real time security camera feed gives dispatchers eyes on the courthouse complex

While Witt explained the new equipment, Dispatcher Tammy Harmon answered 911 calls. A large electronic map of Goochland helps dispatches visualize the real time locations of incidents and deputies.

 

Tammy Witt, left, explains the new equipment, while Tammy Harmon, right answers 911 and non-emergency calls,

The floor in dispatch is raised so that cables beneath may be easily accessed for repair or upgrades.  Sound absorbing  panels on the walls prevent unwanted noise. The ceiling is high enough to accommodate expansion to a second floor without raising the roof. The server room, like the rest of the new ECC/EOC has lots of room for expansion.

 

Ample room for expansion in the server room for new equipment to keep pace with demand,

In addition to dispatch, the facility includes a large conference and smaller break out rooms;  a full kitchen; shower and laundry facilities and a large generator able to provide power for several days.

When Hurricane Isabel visited Goochland in 2003, the Sheriff’s Office was used as the EOC, where representatives from many county agencies including fire-rescue, administration, schools, and social services were crammed into a small room for many hours. 

The new ECC/EOC will equip Goochland to deal with increasing demand for law enforcement and other public safety services and  challenges of the next disaster be it man made or weather related and expand to meet the needs of a growing county.