Tuolumne Sheriff’s Dispatch To Make Temporary Move To Striker Court
Sonora, CA — In response to challenges at the existing dispatch center located at the former jail facility downtown, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office will soon move those operations to 18440 Striker Court.
It will be at the county facility that also houses the ambulance services, fire, and the emergency operations center. The long-term plan, however, is to move the sheriff’s office dispatch to the Dambacher Detention Center (new jail). However, there are state-required steps that need to be met. The move to the permanent location is estimated to be a couple of years away.
$1.8 million was earlier put into the county’s 24/25 adopted budget for the short-term Striker Court move, however, initiatives like this have been coming back to the supervisors for more review in light of challenging budget times. The board decided Tuesday to remain on the current course, as the supervisors voted 5-0 to move forward with the temporary Striker Court relocation.
A presentation was delivered by Sheriff’s Office Captain Jarrod Pippin and Sheriff David Vasquez. Pippin pointed out that there were six power failures in 2023 at the downtown facility that impacted the ability to provide 911 services. There was also an electrical fire that year that impacted operations.
Pippin stated, “During those documented outages, we were able to determine we missed about 130 – 911 calls – that would have come into our communications center during those times when the outages occurred.”
There is also an inadequate HVAC climate control system for the equipment used.
Sheriff’s Officials told the supervisors that the estimated cost to relocate to Striker Court was recently reduced to $1.4 million, through cost-cutting, and much of the equipment and furnishings purchased will be used during the eventual relocation to the Dambacher Detention Facility.
The Sheriff’s 911 dispatch center relocation project has been a Board priority since 2023.
