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Starting the beginning
of 2010, Watertown Police Dispatch Center will take after
hours, weekends and holidays phone calls for the Sheriff's
Office. Citizen's of Hamlin County will be able to report
any non-emergency criminal activity by calling
605-783-3232 after hours. When the caller calls the office,
a message stating you have reach the Hamlin County Sheriff's
Office after hours and if you would like an officer to come
to your location, press 0. By pressing 0 you will be
forwarded to the Watertown Police Dispatch Center. The
dispatcher will gather important information from the caller
and remain on the line (if need to be) until the officer is
on scene. If the Sheriff's Office number is local to you,
there will be no long distance charge for being transferred
to the Watertown Police Dispatch Center. All EMERGENCY
calls should still be called into 911.
The old policy has
calls forwarded to a Hamlin County deputy's cell phone
during after business hours. When these calls come in,
officers may be on a traffic stop, important calls or other
calls of service which makes it unsafe and hard to gather
important information. Besides the safety factor, cell
phones not always working is sometimes a problem in the
county. This new policy would make officers and citizen's
much safer and to better serve the county.
Starting January 1st,
2010; this new policy will go into effect. The Watertown
Police Department and the Hamlin County Sheriff's Office is
doing a test run for the next three month to see how the
program works. At this time, there is no additional cost to
the county to do this test run.
If you have any
questions or concerns, please contact Sheriff Dan Mack at
605-783-3232 during normal business hours (8am - 5pm Monday
to Friday) or Deputy Alexander by
E-mail. |
