December 9, 2009
By DANNY HENLEY
Of the Courier-Post

To anyone monitoring the emergency scanner channels managed by Marion County 911, Monday probably sounded like any other day. The fact it sounded like a normal day when it wasn’t brings a smile to the face of Mike Hall, director of Marion County 911, since Monday marked the day when 911 operations officially shifted from the Hannibal Police Department’s basement to the new 911 building located in northern Hannibal.

“We made the switch over at approximately 10 a.m. Monday morning. There’s lots of tweaking and more yet to do, but the transition to the new center went very smoothly,” said Hall in an e-mail Monday evening.

Dispatchers were tested almost immediately. Approximately 45 minutes after the change occurred a robbery was reported outside the HNB in downtown Hannibal.

“We got busy with real-life events,” said Hall Tuesday morning, adding law enforcement officers he spoke with later Monday didn’t realize dispatchers weren’t still working out of the HPD’s basement.

A dispatcher remained at the old dispatch center just in case something major happened. When it didn’t, she went home when her shift ended at 2 p.m.