The Scotland Neck Police Department has never issued direct orders for officers not to check in with the county’s 911 center, Chief Joe Williams said today.

The department has scaled back its calls to the center based on varying circumstances, he said.

Scotland Neck is at the center of a potential change in the way operations at the 911 center are funded because projections show it will not contribute anything under a credit formula based on call volume.

“Based on what they came up with, Scotland Neck contributed $22,000 last year,” Williams, who is also chair of the 911 board, said.

(The county 911 board will have a called meeting on the matter February 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the old commissioners building adjacent to the Historic Courthouse.)

The town’s call volume is not what other agencies had, he said. The police department also has computers in its patrol cars that link officers to a myriad of sites and systems such as the North Carolina Statewide Warrant Repository System and other criminal information databases. “We’re not generating the call volume of others. If an officer doesn’t check in at Handy Mart it doesn’t bother me. We’re just a small department and we know where our officers are at.”

Williams said the department realizes the 911 center has to operate and his officers do punch in. “If we get out of our car on a call and if we need to punch a card we punch a card.”

When Williams first became chief in Scotland Neck the town paid as much as $48,000. Those charges reflected not only criminal stops that were punched but also calls such as bank escorts. “We were spending over $5,000 in escort fees. I didn’t think it was a wise expenditure telling Halifax we were escorting a storeowner to the bank.”

Officers were punching a card every time they got out of their patrol cars, which is currently a $9.92 charge each time an officer checks in with the center. “There’s no need to punch a card for a follow-up investigation. If an officer elects not to call it in they have a daily log.”

The department punches in on stops with multiple occupants, criminal stops and when state citations are issued. Any calls for service coming through the center itself and dispatched to Scotland Neck are charged, Williams said.

Warrant services, delivery of criminal papers, subpoenas, incident reports and wreck reports are also punched.

Scotland Neck doesn’t have the same make-up as Roanoke Rapids or Weldon, Williams said. “In my eyes we have paid up until this last year.”

The town’s credit under the current system is a negative $2,439.99, money that is absorbed into the county’s general fund. “That started when I took over. I was concerned that it was as high as $48,000 five or six years ago. Now we’ve got to zero.”

Williams believes this is something the county should have looked at years ago.

Depending on which plan the 911 board chooses to go with, Scotland Neck could end up paying $25,905.73 under a population-based formula or $19,920.29 under a call volume formula without the built in credit plan.

As far as officer safety, Williams said, “I would say most of our car stops are called in. A lot of times we’re working two officers. The second officer automatically backs up and communicates with his partner on the street.”

The chief said, “I’ve never instructed them not to call. We’ve got a unique county in our size and geographical makeup. Every community is different.”

When the 911 board meets at a called meeting next week, Williams said the board would pick one of the two proposals the county has come up with. “Whichever one we pick we’re going to make budgetary adjustments and comply. We can’t afford to get back to the $50,000 and $60,000 a year range. If we do some other area will suffer.”