COLUMBUS, Ind. — Five Bartholomew County E-911 dispatchers assisted first responders at the Greenwood Park Mall active shooter incident Sunday night by taking the overflow 911 calls from Johnson County pouring in from individuals at the scene.
It is believed to the first time that the “rollover” of 911 calls occurred automatically between the two counties, said Bartholomew County 911 Emergency Operations Center Director Todd Noblitt. It occurred when the number of calls going to Johnson County 911 became so nonstop after an active shooter was reported at the mall at about 6 p.m. Sunday that the calls began automatically rolling over to Bartholomew County for assistance.
Sheriff Matt Myers said the operations center’s quick thinking in responding to the calls assisted first responders at the scene tremendously and allowed the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department to reroute two deputies heading into work from the Franklin area to instead head to Greenwood to assist at the mall.
Noblitt said the five dispatchers were working their normal shift when multiple 911 calls from Johnson County started coming in about the active shooter situation at the mall. The dispatchers immediately began dispatching law enforcement to Johnson County and did a mass notification to all Bartholomew County law enforcement just minutes after 6 p.m., notifying them of the mall shooting. As a result, two Columbus Police Department officers were sent to assist as well and provided traffic enforcement to keep people away from the mall during the investigation.
About 50 calls came into Bartholomew County dispatch from Johnson County, the majority from individuals either inside the mall or those who had left the mall and were then reporting from outside, Noblitt said. The calls went to all the dispatchers as they continued to dispatch Bartholomew County first responders to incidents here.
“They just did a fantastic job,” Noblitt said of the dispatchers. “One of the things we do is train for active shooter situations, and we will be looking at our procedures and training after this,” he said. “We train for these calls coming in as far as taking a neighboring county’s calls.”
Noblitt, making a reference to now-retired former center director Ed Reuter and his push for more technology to expand what 911 can do, said the technology now in place gives the opportunity for E-911 to help other counties when needed.
“This is one of the things that 911 tech has allowed us to do,” he said. “Technology, and relationships (with other counties) matter.”
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
