New phones for Sheriff’s Dept.
New phones for Sheriff’s Dept.
Sheriff pleased to be ditching old system
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Crittenden County Sheriff’s Department will be getting a new phone system soon.
Sheriff Mike Allen received the okay from the Quorum Court to spend $46,600 on new phones.
Allen said the system is old and out of date.
It’s so bad that he can’t even put a caller on hold and call up to the front desk without having to hang up and call that person back.
“I usually have to get my cell out of my pocket and while I am talking to you I have my phone in the other ear,” Allen said. “It is a really old system. It’s kind of like having a cell phone from the 1990s.”
Allen said they are working with AT& T on a plan to switch to an IP Voice Over system.
IP Voice Over provides voice and data services over a single, secure Internet network connection.
The system allows users to manage their call preferences, voice mails, con- tacts, call history and more from any land-line, phone or PC.
“It’s basically what AT& T is going to for their phone systems,” Allen said. “It is an Internet based calling system.”
Allen said the new system will save the county about $3,000 to $4,000 a month and pay for itself in the first year.
“It is probably going to be a little more on the front end because we are going to have to have a free standing system separate from our current Internet for this phone system,” Allen said. “But in the first year it will save us $42,000. So it is definitely worth it.”
The money is currently budgeted and will come out of the department’s equipment and communications fund which is paid for through process serving fees, and a portion of the jail telephone system and commissary fees.
“We’ve for the money for it,” Allen said. “It’s just something we have got to do. It is an upgrade that needs to be done for the future. We’re just hashing out the details and AT& T is putting together a proposal to reconfigure some things so we get the right system when we switch over.”
By Mark Randall
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