[ScanIndiana] Elkhart County Dispatch Center Flooded

[David Safdy]

Inmates clog drain; flood destroys equipment
Damage sets back dispatch center, police several years 

Tue, Aug 6, 2002
By Justin Leighty

Truth Staff

GOSHEN -- Police believe inmates plugged up a toilet in the jail
Saturday night, causing flooding which destroyed at least $78,000 worth
of computer equipment and temporarily set the county dispatch center and
area police departments back several years in terms of their procedures.

The destroyed equipment runs the computer-aided dispatch system and the
police reporting system used by every police and fire department in the
county, except for those in Elkhart.

The 911 system wasn't affected and the dispatch center can still handle
calls, but people may have to wait a little longer than normal for a
response. Getting copies of police reports may take longer for the next
week as well.

"It's a big mess," said Sheila Malone, director of the county's Public
Safety Communications Center. "We went 20 years in reverse," she said. 
Inmates in a disciplinary ward on the third floor of the jail building
blocked up the drain Saturday night, Elkhart County Sheriff Tom Snider
said. "These are people we've had trouble with while they've been with
us." 

Detective Mike Books was assigned to the case. "Flooding of wards is not
an uncommon practice," Books said, but usually it doesn't do this much
damage.  Books said there appear to be three inmates involved, and they
could face felony charges of criminal mischief when police turn over
their investigation to the prosecutor's office in a few days.

Books said detectives have a pretty good idea why the inmates flooded
the ward, but didn't want to discuss the motive while the investigation
is ongoing.

The ward is typically patrolled frequently, Snider said, but while the
inmates were beginning to flood the ward, a jail officer fell in the
garage and most of the other officers in the jail went to help her.  The
flooding soaked through the floor into an administrative office area on
the second floor. Water then soaked through there and down onto the
computer server cabinet in the dispatch center.

At least two of the six servers were destroyed.  Maintenance workers
were able to shut off water to the ward and stop the flooding, Maj. Ted
Selman said. The cleanup continued Monday.

Dispatchers had to call in extra help to be able to handle everything
without computers, meaning the county will have to pay overtime hours
until the system is repaired.

The good news is that replacing the destroyed equipment will be
considerably cheaper because of the advances of technology over the last
few years, Malone said. The equipment may cost around $20,000, she said,
plus the costs of shipping and installation. "If we get out with only
$25,000 or $30,000 in damage, we'll be lucky," she said.

The county is self-insured for up to $100,000 damage.  Replacement
servers were ordered Monday and will take about three days to get up and
running. Once that's done, "we'll reboot and see if everything else is
working," she said. "I'd love to have it in by Friday, but I don't know
if we'll make it." 

In addition to the departments dispatched out of the county center in
Goshen, Nappanee's dispatch center also uses the ruined equipment and
had to go to a manual system, Malone said.

The county's dispatchers had to haul out maps and try to figure out
where the calls were coming from, then send the officer working in that
area to respond to the calls. Malone said that slowed the process
considerably; using the computer, when dispatchers enter the address
they get a display of nearby intersecting streets and officers working
in the area.

Because of the computer failures, jail personnel canceled visitation
Sunday night.  Jail officers had to book people in manually, a
time-consuming process, police said.  The sheriff's department and area
police departments were still able to complete reports, but quick access
to computerized copies will be impossible until the repairs are made,
Selman said.  "People coming in for reports may experience a delay,"
Selman said, but "in terms of our day-to-day operations we haven't lost
our ability to provide service."

At the time of the flooding there were 460 inmates booked in the jail
and another 26 waiting to be booked, Snider said. The jail has a rated
capacity of 340 inmates.

Source:
http://www.etruth.com/news/281057996656393.bsp