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MAIN
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Its 12:35am and a 911 call is received at the local police dispatch center, upon giving the address of the emergency and the apartment number, the dispatchers says “stay on the line I’m transferring you to the County” confused the caller agrees and again pleads with the County for assistance at his location. Once again the caller is advised that he will be transferred, several seconds later the 911 operator has realized that in fact that specific apartment number is in the County. Soon after the officers mistake the call is taken and the police are dispatched.
Although small, there was a delay in the response time for police or ambulance for this specific emergency. But why? Why was the call taken only after the dispatcher verified the specific apartment number? The caller's address was clearly in the city that the police department was located. Why did the call not go directly to where it needed to be? Sadly, this is a problem many city residence will face only in the event of an police or medical emergency. Knowing that an address may be split by and county line is not information that many are aware of. Many are also faced with the fact that calling 911 from the front bedroom of their house may be a different police department than from the bathroom. Although this might sound a bit ridicules, these problem are real and are very much happening throughout cities across the state. This is a problem with City and County Jurisdiction lines and the people that they effect.
As an officer in a city police department, knowing the city and county lines is a must for the job. Knowing which buildings and homes are split by these lines is also something that is paid close attention. Unfortunately, there are several other cities that must deal with this problem of "split" buildings throughout the Houston area. In my city alone there are at least three apartments, and four single-family homes that we share with the County police department.
There are also other issues that one must address about these separating lines. Many cities have different tax laws that the county does not, such as cites where the residence do not pay taxes on property. If a city neighborhood is split with the county many residence will have to pay county taxes.
I propose that the City and County lines be reevaluated every 2 years to accommodate new developments and residential growth. This will eliminate the splitting of homes, apartments and businesses due to these lines. All building owners that are currently on these lines will be notified and acknowledged of the issues that theses splits will cause. Buildings that are uses for business purposes will be notified when plans are placed on a city or county line before construction. This will give the business prior notice to the issues that may arise in the future of there ownership. They will also be notified when the next re evaluation of these lines will take place. All established neighborhoods would be zoned to contain only one police and fire department jurisdiction. This means that county lines will be drawn away from and not through these neighborhoods. Any new neighborhoods in construction must notify the city with construction plans to make the next evaluation period.
The Funding
The cost of these twice annually changes will be very minimal to both the city and county. A budget will be made for the cost of new maps for all Police, Fire and EMS stations in the cities. These maps will be constructed and distributed several months before going into effect, to notify the departments of the new changes. Since the Key Map Co. issues a new site map for each county once a year these changes will not affect the buying public.
A reevaluation of these lines will better suit the city and county residence by providing and equal distribution of city and county benefits. For example, if one were to live in a neighborhood that was split by a county line that person would get a longer response time in receiving a police to there home than there next door neighborhood who’s house is in the city.
This proposal is not in itself, seamless there will in fact be bumps in the road ahead, yet it is a plan this will in time better the communities that surround the city of Houston. I feel that this is a problem that can be fixed with the help of city and county officials. Adjusting these lines will not only fix problems with the police and fire departments but it will also alleviate problems with city and county taxing laws.