Nevada County, Grass Valley may consolidate police dispatching

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KMA367

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Now that GVPD finally got a dispatch freq pair that works...

From the Nevada County Board of Supervisors
agenda for October 9, 2012.

Sheriff-Coroner: Keith Royal

"37. *Resolution authorizing execution of an agreement between
the County of Nevada, the City of Grass Valley, the Town of
Truckee, and the City of Nevada City Police Departments for the
Sheriff’s office to provide public safety dispatch services to the
three police departments by consolidating the Truckee Dispatch
Center and the Grass Valley Dispatch Center into the existing
Sheriff’s office Dispatch Center in Nevada City, for the period
November 1, 2012 through June 30, 2018, for a total contract
amount of $562,741 through fiscal year ending June 30, 2013,
with subsequent contract year’s adjusted annually to reflect each
agency’s allocated percentage based on the total cost to provide
services."

(NCSO has dispatched Nevada City PD for many years)
 

KMA367

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According to news reports, Grass Valley City Council documents, and the BOS agenda for next week, all three agencies other than the County have voted to approve the consolidation agreement, to be effective November 1.

NCSO will hire all four of Grass Valley's full-time dispatchers assuming they apply for the position and meet the County's requirements. GV will save approximately $163,000 per year under the agreement, and their plan is to hire an investigative Sergeant, a patrol officer (they are already down NINE officers from their authorized total of 23), and a second part-time records clerk.

The Sheriff has already closed their their dispatch facility at Truckee as of October 1, and all dispatching functions will be done at the existing site on Maidu St in Nevada City, to be known as the Nevada County Regional Dispatch Center (NCRDC).

There's nothing in any of the stuff I've found addressing the issue of radio frequencies.
 
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KMA367

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Sure enough, the County Supervisors approved the consolidation and 11/1 is the scheduled date. At the meeting the Sheriff had a bit of interesting information (for us kinda people) after he went over the $600k cost savings:
"It's gonna improve public safety. It's gonna improve officer safety, because now everyone will be on the same frequency, they'll hear what's going on, and when a crisis occurs in another jurisdiction, officers will be able to respond in a more timely fashion, versus trying to listen to a scanner, where you may pick up that broadcast. or have a call coming from one dispatch center, to another dispatch center, and then communicating that to the officer. That's lost time, that could be the time necessary to save a life, to prevent further injury. So this is a plus I think for all of us, and it seems to be the sign of the time across the state, looking at consolidating various activities, and dispatch makes sense."​

It makes the most sense that the frequency will in all likelihood be the current west primary repeater, 155.565R / 154.83m, and if so that will leave them with both the east county 155.76 repeater plus Grass Valley's repeater pair and their simplex tac as back-up or tactical frequencies.

Since they'll have no dispatchers at the station to work the counter anymore, GVPD has announced it will be open only on weekdays, from 09:00-1200 and 13:00-16:00, and two part-time records clerks will cover those hours. The "We're closed, call the Sheriff" sign will be hanging on the door nights and weekends They will also be cutting back on the types of calls they'll be responding to (see Sacto 9-1-1: Grass Valley police announce service cuts due to tight budget ). The latter is no doubt because they have only 14 of the 23 officers they're theoretically budgeted for, and not related to the dispatch change. But here's the "new Online Police Reporting System!" (sic) user-friendly(??) form people can use to decide if they have an emergency, and if not, how they can file a report online: GVPD: Online Reporting
 

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Duster

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It makes the most sense that the frequency will in all likelihood be the current west primary repeater, 155.565R / 154.83m, and if so that will leave them with both the east county 155.76 repeater plus Grass Valley's repeater pair and their simplex tac as back-up or tactical frequencies.

Good catch Harry. I would suspect that the eastside units will stay on NCSO East (and possibly TRK PD's frequency, since NCSO already dispatched them), since there are no westside repeaters or frequencies that reach over the summit. This will, however, give them the GVPD channels on the West (and the TRK channels on the East if they all go to NCSO East) to use for auxiliary repeated channel nets.
 

KMA367

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Dispatch consolidation has occurred on schedule

From a buddy in Nevada County, the consolidation of dispatch for the County, Grass Valley PD and Nevada City PD occurred on schedule this morning. Here's his message, including an interesting list of unit numbers that will have to be deciphered. Truckee PD is apparently in there too, but he lives in the west county and can't hear them:

It is November 1st and the unit numbers heard on 155.565 are all different.

They must now be including Grass Valley – but have also reworked unit numbering overall.

Here is my list of unit numbers so far

IDA 4 (no first number)

3 LINCOLN 4

2 OCEAN 20
2 OCEAN 22
4 OCEAN 2
4 OCEAN 4

1 PAUL 45
1 PAUL 56

1 ROBERT 86

1 SAM 12
4 SAM 5

1 VICTOR 17
1 VICTOR 41
1 VICTOR 59

Spiral.com had an online scanner feed for Nevada County, but they've taken it off the air for major upgrading, but no ETA for its return, if ever. As far as I can see, there's no RR - er, Broadcastify - feed covering law enforcement in Nevada County, only CAL-FIRE.
 

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That is correct. I'm actually in GV now (just left a meeting at work where we were advised the changeover happened as planned). I will see what I can find out, but I've also heard 1-P, 3-O, and 4-O units this morning. If I were to speculate, I would suspect that 1 units are NCSO, 3 are GVPD or Nev City PD, and 4 is the other PD. I haven't heard any locations associated with the 3/4 call signs to narrow that down yet. So, 2 is possible my TRK PD on the east side. Just my .02 from what I've heard so far.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2
 

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Update: I think 4 is Grass Valley PD. I heard units at a TC I drove by, and only GVPD units were there. BUT...I also heard a 2 unit...2-Ocean 20...going to addresses in GV. The only call I heard the type on was an animal call (dog locked in a car with no open windows). So, I guess 2 could be animal control...still just guessing on that though. More data needed. I've left the area for the day, so I may not have more till I return to work first of the week.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2
 

KMA367

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Nevada County / Grass Valley feed online

Spiral.com had an online scanner feed for Nevada County, but they've taken it off the air for major upgrading, but no ETA for its return, if ever. As far as I can see, there's no RR - er, Broadcastify - feed covering law enforcement in Nevada County, only CAL-FIRE.
I didn't look before I leapt. There *is* a new (to me, anyway) scanner feed for Nevada County/Grass Valley on RadioReference, and the new version, broadcastify.com

URLs are
RR: Nevada County Sheriff and Grass Valley Police Live Scanner Audio Feed
and
Broadcastify: Nevada County Sheriff and Grass Valley Police

The broadcaster has a note on the feed page "Feed live 10/6/2012 Testing/Tweaking of feed will occur for the next week to determine best audio quality. Thank you for your patience."

On my end it sounds extremely overmodulated, though it is marginally readable. Perhaps someone can give him some specific instructions on how he might improve it, using the "Report a Problem" link on one of those pages.
 
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gvranchosbill

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Monitoring Location:Gardnerville,NV
Nov 1st 2012 FYI:
Im listening to Truckee P.D.Primary and im hearing all Nevada County Sheriff Comms from Westside(Grass Valley Area) on TPD Channel.
I checked Nevada County Eastside Channel and im hearing the same thing.
Earlier i heard Dispatch asking for radio checks.
Westside on Truckee P.D. does sound overmodulated.
From reading what you guys posted and what im hearing it sounds as that 155.5650 West/155.7600 East/153.9050 Truckee are tied together.

In about 15 minutes of monitoring around19;00Hrs Pacific i heard units:
1-Paul-25
2-Sam-02
1-Paul-33
4-Ocean-10
On Truckee 153.9050 MHz/097.4 Hz Alder Hill
 
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KMA367

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Got reply from the feed provider already

OK, I've already received an email reply from the feed provider, and he had received a message from someone earlier that his volume was too low, so he had turned it up. He says he believes that the problem may have been GVPD's frequency, which he thinks is also simulcasting the SO channel.

Anyway, as of 7:05 PM it's sounding much bettter now to me - i'm guessing he's turned it down. (Our conversation is over on the ScanNorCal yahoogroup).

Monitoring Location:Gardnerville,NV
Nov 1st 2012 FYI:
Im listening to Truckee P.D.Primary and im hearing all Nevada County Sheriff Comms from Westside(Grass Valley Area) on TPD Channel.
I checked Nevada County Eastside Channel and im hearing the same thing.
Earlier i heard Dispatch asking for radio checks.
Westside on Truckee P.D. does sound overmodulated.
From reading what you guys posted and what im hearing it sounds as that 155.5650 West/155.7600 East/153.9050 Truckee are tied together.
 

gvranchosbill

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At around 04:10am Nov 03, i heard 3-SAM-10 Dispatched on a noise complaint on E.River St, he later advised QOA (Quiet on Arrival) and 10-08.

I looked on my maps and unless there is an E.River St in the West County area, it sounds like SAM units are Truckee.
I will have to monitor some before i make that claim though, also there was a ?-LINCOLN-11 Unit rolling to back untill Code-4, i never heard him state he copied SAM-10 QOA and 10-08 or himself going 10-08.

This Unit Designation they have is not clear to me yet.
I hear PAUL Units offten and im assuming they are Sheriff Units?
I think im convinced that OCEAN Units are Grass Valley?

Thats what makes it fun for me is figuring it out

Is Nevada City P.D. on this new deal or are they separate?

The town of Truckee Public works(Plows) i believe was handled by P.D. dispatch during Snow Storms.
Are they on their own now or is Consolidated Dispatch handling that also?

FYI:
Town of Truckee Public Works 154.0400/158.8050(250.3Hz) PW to Truckee P.D.Dispatch PL Tone still operational.
Town of Truckee Public Works 154.0400/158.8050(233.6Hz) PW Still operational
Town of Truckee Public Works 154.0400/158.8050(100.0Hz) PW Still operational

Truckee Police Dept Tac Channel on 154.0400/158.8050(091.5) Unknown if still operational
 
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KMA367

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MDT usage by the agencies

Today (Thurs) has been my first opportunity to listen for several hours to the online feed (Nevada County Sheriff and Grass Valley Police Live Scanner Audio Feed and via the new "Broadcastify" portal.

Grass Valley has been busier than everyone else combined, not unexpected since they're pretty much the activity/population center for the county on a weekday.

I don't know if it's new or not, but I've noticed that they've been dispatching almost all of GVPD's calls via MDT with the dispatcher simply telling the units, "4-Ocean-whoever, I've sent you an 11-82 on East Main St" or whatever. If the officer's MDT isn't working or he needs clarification the dispatcher isn't at all hesitant to voice-broadcast the call, and none of the calls have been particularly urgent, so this isn't terribly unusual for MDT-equipped agencies I'm familiar with.

GV's incident numbers seem to be referred to as "Items," similar to LAPD calling theirs "Incident Numbers," LASD's being "Tags," and Humboldt County SO's are referred to as "CFS" (Call For Service) numbers.

Anyway, I haven't been able to tell if NCSO, Nevada City PD or TPD have or use MDTs, so consider this as much a question about those agencies as an observation. Thanks.
.
 
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gvranchosbill

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Regarding MDT in Nevada County.

Nevada County
WQED600
Base-------Mobile----Emmission--Site Location
460.6000 465.6000 20K0F1D----BANNER MOUNTAIN LOOKOUT(Nevada City)
460.0500 465.0500 20K0F1D----17800 WOLF MTN ROAD(Grass Valley)
460.6000 465.6000 20K0F1D----NEVADA COUNTY DISPATCH/925 MAIDU AVE(Nevada City)
460.0500 465.0500 20K0F1D----NEVADA COUNTY DISPATCH/925 MAIDU AVE(Nevada City)
460.0500 465.0500 20K0F1D----OREGON PEAK(Dobbins,Yuba Co)
460.4250 465.4250 20K0F1D----10879 DONNER PASS ROAD(Truckee)
460.4250 465.4250 20K0F1D----SKI TOW HILL(Truckee)

FYI:
I hear 460.4250 Transmitting Data Continuously here in Nevada.
Im assuming this is MDT traffic for Eastern Nevada County.
There isnt anyone using that frequency anywhere over here.
 
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KMA367

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NCSO "Paper" Service units & Daily Logs

County units serving subpoenas, evictions, etc have "Victor" callsigns. Their website doesn't have an organization chart (that I can find), but I see references elsewhere to a County "Civil Division," and also to a pending agreement between the courts and the Sheriff that the SO will provide court security. Can't tell if these are regular deputies simply assigned to the courts, or if they are a separate job classification entirely.

I also came across NCSO's Daily Logs at Sheriff Daily Activity Reports. So far it appears that all calls show the agency as "NCSO" (need a coding tweak?), but they do indicate the unit(s) assigned, if any, and perusing through them it may be relatively easy to figure out what some of the still-unknown unit numbers mean, such as Tom, Robert, LIncoln, and Zebra.

Someone already deciphered AC as Animal Control, which corresponds to log entries.
 

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I was in Grass Valley today and heard all the LE traffic on both NCSO's ch-1 (155.5650/CT141.3) and on Grass Valley PD's 155.7075/DC466. Heard units Tom, Sam, Lincoln, Paul and Robert units, as well as AC dispatched for a dog fight.

Couldn't listen for very long, though. There was a solid stream of what sounded like data, followed by a squelch close. It was present on both channels. It never covered any voice transmissions, but I've no idea if it hindered anything.
 

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Ok, here's what I think so far... This is fun, but its getting frustrating because it makes sense, except for anomalies!! LOL

I commute into, and work in the area, and have a government radio in my rig, so I listen to the net 3-4 days a week during my transit. However, my monitor times are early AM and early to mid-evening, for 30-60 min at a time, so I am likely not hearing a lot of callsigns.

I THINK it works like this:

1- NCSO Units
2- Possibly Nevada City PD
3- Truckee units (unk if TRK PD or NCSO East, or both, but I THINK at least TRK PD)
4- GVPD (almost every call I hear a "4 Ocean" unit on is within Grass Valley city, and they seem to generate the majority of "non-SO" traffic)

Paul - NCSO Units (at least patrol, but possibly others?)
Ocean - PD Patrol units, possibly all units?
Sam - Sergeant/Supervisor units (hear them in more than one agency)
Lincoln - Truckee (I think PD, perhaps SO?)
AC - Animal Control (perhaps more than one agency)
Robert - Possibly reserves
Charles - NCSO Custody or Corrections units...heard doing transports between facilities
Victor - NCSO STARS (or whatever they call their 'retired' citizen volunteers)
Tom - ????
Nora - ???? (Possibly Narcotics detectives?)
Zebra - ????

There is one particular person who ALWAYS goes in service in the morning about the same time (0630-ish) in the same way: "Good morning Nevada County, XXXX is 10-8". Prior to the change over, he was "101" He is now "2-Adam-2". He has always been on NCSO's net, so I speculate he is an admin officer for Nevada City PD (they have always been dispatched by NCSO). If anyone knows who this individual is and can confirm his agency affiliation, that can narrow down which agency #2 is.

Also, I don't know how NCSO Truckee, TRK Public Wks, or any number of other agencies are identified. I'm not even 100% convinced that the first number identifes an agency, but I'm getting more confident with that the more I listen.

On Radio Nets:

It sounds like the main Command channels are all being simulcast. On the west side, NCSO and GVPD nets are both active, and we are also hearing Truckee traffic here. Once or twice in the last couple weeks I have heard a GVPD unit say that "Grass Valley Main is down; I'll be working off Banner (or Wolf) [the NCSO repeater sites]". I don't know if they are going to keep the simulcast going, or eventually phase everyone onto the NCSO net. It would make sense to consolidate to one net, and unless there are dead spots in the city that GV's repeater fills, NCSO's net should give good coverage (we share several site locations with NCSO's system, and we have good coverage in GV).

So that is the latest update from me...any additional info is greatly appreciated. Perhaps eventually we can narrow this down enough to put something in the wiki.

Duster
 
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Duster

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Latest tidbits...

Ok, I had to come to work for a night shift tonight, so I was listening to a different level of activity coming in.

I heard "1-TOM-??" doing a patrol check at Boreal, which is Tahoe area, so I think perhaps we can start to assume that "PAUL" units are NCSO Westside patrol units, and "TOM" units are the NCSO Tahoe units. Which would lead me to believe that "3" units are Truckee PD.

I heard "2-SAM-3" assigned a call on Sacramento St. The only Sacramento Street in this area is Nevada City, so I think the breakdown of department ID's works like this:

1- Nevada County SO (East and West)
2- Nevada City PD
3- Truckee PD
4- Grass Valley PD

Still listening...

Duster
 
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KF7RAY

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Ok, I had to come to work for a night shift tonight, so I was listening to a different level of activity coming in.

I heard "1-TOM-??" doing a patrol check at Boreal, which is Tahoe area, so I think perhaps we can start to assume that "PAUL" units are NCSO Westside patrol units, and "TOM" units are the NCSO Tahoe units. Which would lead me to believe that "3" units are Truckee PD.

I heard "2-SAM-3" assigned a call on Sacramento St. The only Sacramento Street in this area is Nevada City, so I think the breakdown of department ID's works like this:

1- Nevada County SO (East and West)
2- Nevada City PD
3- Truckee PD
4- Grass Valley PD

Still listening...

Duster
FWIW, Boreal is actually closer to Truckee than Tahoe. It is right on on top of Donner Summit off of I80. I agree with the rest of your post though.
 
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