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Farthing has new title as dispatch director but is familiar with her role

Melissa Farthing was recently hired as the Huntington County Safety Dispatch Director. Farthing is a former dispatcher herself, working four years on the city dispatch team.
Melissa Farthing was recently hired as the Huntington County Safety Dispatch Director. Farthing is a former dispatcher herself, working four years on the city dispatch team. Photo by Andre B. Laird.

Originally published July 18, 2013.

When Melissa Farthing showed up for work on June 22, she had a new title, but was very familiar with her new role.

The Huntington native was hired as the new Huntington County Public Safety Dispatch Director. She oversees the recently combined city and county dispatch teams.

She has worked for the sheriff's department for eight years, and has also worked part-time for the Huntington Police Department for four years.

She adds that she also completed a one-week long dispatcher training through at the Indiana State Police Academy.

The transition to the new position has been smooth, she notes.

"I knew that this position came with more paperwork and administrative duties," Farthing says. "However, I try to get on the [dispatch] console at least once per pay period to stay current."

The dispatch team, Farthing adds, is the 911 call center, fielding all emergency calls as well as calls to the police and fire departments.

"We are also responsible for handling and transferring any calls to the city building and courthouse," she notes.

Huntington Police Chief E.J. Carroll says the combination of the two dispatch teams benefits everyone.
"This greatly affects our response times to emergencies," he says. "The two teams coming together along with our 800 megahertz radios make a big difference."

Carroll says that prior to the addition of the stronger frequency radios, city dispatcher could not hear the county dispatchers.

"The new radios gave us the capability for everyone to know what was going on at the same time," he says. "When you combine the two departments, the communication is even better."

He adds that currently there is some training ongoing because of the merger.

"Since each dispatch team used to handle different departments, we have to catch everybody up to speed on the departments they hadn't covered before," Carroll explains. "We're also compiling a list of preferences for how each department likes their calls to be handled."

Farthing says another benefit from the merger is law enforcement safety.

"With radio traffic coming from one central location, there is no confusion about what is going on during an emergency," she says. "City and county officers and even fire personnel are on the same page at all times."

She adds that the combined team of 12 full-time and five part-time dispatchers work well together.

"We've come a long way to get to this stage," Farthing says. "Our goal is to serve the community as best we can and also keep our public safety personnel safe."

"We have a great group of dispatchers," Carroll adds.
"We all work together to make Huntington County a safer place for everyone to live."