POLSON – As Christmas draws near,

Lake County is doing some shopping of its own at it seeks to replace its aging computer aided dispatch system.

Steve Stanley, director of the Lake County Office of Emergency Management, which operates the county’s dispatch center, said that the current system dates back to 1995 and places an unnecessary burden on dispatchers, law enforcement and emergency personnel.

“This should speed things up,” he said. “We’ll be able to process much more information.”

The county has issued a bid request for a new, Microsoft Windows-based software system to replace its current program called SWIFT Justice.

“Lake County has currently outgrown SWIFT and it’s abilities,” the bid request states.

Stanley said that dispatchers are currently required to input information such as arrest warrants into computers by hand. A modern system would add such documents automatically, as well as interface with national databases, allowing law enforcement officers to access data in the field.

While many counties across Montana still use the SWIFT system, Stanley said the dispatch center’s workload continues to grow exponentially, and fields roughly 40,000 calls per year.

Lake County Dispatch handles transmissions from multiple agencies, including 12 volunteer fire departments, six ambulance services, two search and rescue teams in addittion to the St. Ignatius, Ronan and Polson police departments.

The bid request calls for a system that can be configured for 130 users and provide enough disk space to support 10 years worth of data storage.

Stanley said the dispatch system and software is estimated to cost $200,000, but it could cost an additional $300,000 to install the necessary mobile computer units in response vehicles.

He said the money will come from the 911 surcharge included on phone bills.

According to the Montana Public Service Commission, the state charges $1.00 per month surcharge to phone lines to help fund 911 emergency systems.

“It’s not tax dollars per say,” Stanley said.