Gerry Dinwiddie

Ralls County Sheriff

Dispatch: 573-985-5611 / Office: 573-985-7271
Cell: 573-795-5004 / Fax: 573-985-3100
475@rallscountysheriff.com
PO Box 309
New London, MO 63459

NEWS RELEASE September 21, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ralls County 911 to End Providing Criminal Justice Information

County Law Enforcement Moves Dispatch Services
NEW LONDON, MO - The Ralls County 911 Emergency Services Board notified the Sheriffs Office via
certified mail that beginning later this year, they will implement a series of procedural changes
geared toward minimizing the level of service they provide to law enforcement agencies in the
county.
Among the changes listed in the resolution signed by 911 board Chairman Lowell Jackson and
Executive Director Gabe Duncan, is an end to providing any type of Criminal History information and
an end to entering, maintaining, and responding to inquiries about Warrants and Orders of
Protection.
Criminal History information is essential in determining what level of offense to charge someone
newly arrested for certain crimes such as Driving While Intoxicated or Driving While
Suspended/Revoked. The Prosecuting Attorney and Court System often rely on the information
provided by a Criminal History in making their determination of charges and sentencing.
Warrant and Order of Protection entry and maintenance ensure that local warrants and orders of
protection are entered into the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) which is used
by agencies across the state and is linked to systems used by agencies across the country. Chief
Deputy Ronald Haught said, If a person is wanted for felony burglary, but our warrant is not
entered into MULES, all that person has to do to avoid apprehension is avoid contact with our
deputies. Even if the suspect encounters a law enforcement officer in a neighboring city or county,
if the warrant isnt in MULES, the guys going to come back clear instead of wanted; and theyre
going to let him go.
Haught said that he and the Sheriff have been in talks with the Ralls County Commission for several
weeks about the possibility of something like this happening. Ralls 911 had already
been talking about going to a different CAD system which would mean abandoning access to the
officer safety information contained in the one we share now. We voiced our objections at that
time to the (911) board and we thought we had made our case, instead we received a registered
letter denying us critical services.
Ralls County Sheriff Gerry Dinwiddie echoed Haughts concerns, refusing to provide this service
ties our hands with respect to finding a different option for dispatch. Its vital to the publics safety
that those warrant and ex partes (orders of protection) stay in the system and if Ralls 911 wont
process those records, the State requires another 24-hour station that will. Ill have to either hire a
minimum of four civilian employees, or for about the same cost, move the services to a neighboring
911 center, which I think would be better because they would already know how to manage all of
that.
The Sheriffs Office along with police departments from the cities of New London, Center, and Perry
migrated services to Marion County 911 this afternoon. Marion 911 had served as an operational
backup to Ralls and was able to take on the additional workload with minimal notice.

For Further Information Contact:

Chief Deputy Ronald Haught
Cell: 573-629-5564
rhaught@rallscountysheriff.com