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--> --> Law enforcement dispatch connection to go on-line By Maggie McGehee Ashland Daily Tidings Criminal justice and law enforcement officials are hoping to connect to a countywide dispatching and reporting network by the fall after enduring nearly a year of delays. After almost continual glitches with the reporting management system portion of the county's computer-aided dispatching system, officials hope to be on-line by late August or early September. The CAD system allows the Jackson County Sheriff's Office to connect to police departments in the cities of Medford, Ashland, Talent, Phoenix, Shady Cove and Eagle Point as well as Southern Oregon Regional Communications, located at the Jackson County Courthouse. Pat Johnson, director of Southern Oregon Regional Communication (SORC), said changes to the system have finally been completed, based on requests by different enforcement agencies in the Rogue Valley. CAD was up and running last spring, yet glitches in the software used for the RMS system have kept that portion of the project off-line. "The CAD system is very complicated," Johnson said. "There are software issues. Currently we're using two different systems, and for a while we will still be dipping into the old system. "But pretty soon things will be easier for us ... Once our database has some history, our reporting process will be much more effective and quick. Any time we can process information more quickly, we're better off, as long as it's processed correctly." The delays have resulted in additional costs to area cities that are not part of their share of the overall CAD-RMS installation costs. In Talent, City Councilor Jodi Riker-Yap questions why the city continues to pay its $3,680 share of the CAD costs to SORC when the Talent Police Department cannot utilize the system. The Talent Police Department uses SORC for its dispatching services and therefore the only on-site benefit to the department is with the RMS system. "We are paying for a program that is not up and running," Madding said in answer to Riker-Yap's query. "However, it is anticipated that RMS will be up this coming fiscal year." Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing