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Bell County (P25)

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Bell County Public Safety retired its EDACS system on September 26, 2022 marking full operation as P25 only.

Areas Served

The county as a whole uses a shared system between the cities or incorporated areas as well as the unincorporated county areas. The exception is Fort Hood Military Installation, which uses its own federal system and not a state or local government system. All Police, Fire and EMS agencies in Bell County operate off this shared network with the exception of Private Ambulance services such as Acadian EMS, who is contracted for Nolanville, Texas. American Medical Response, or AMR, is another private EMS agency that is contracted with Temple and Belton. They operate ambulance transports in conjunction with the city fire departments in Temple and Belton and the unincorporated areas outside of Temple such as the length of State Highway 36 from Grove to Rogers (west to east) and areas from Troy to Salado (north to south).

Equipment Used

Harris radio system operating P25. The talkgroup naming and convention are carried over from the previous EDACS systems. Harris radios are still utilized from the radio consoles at Bell County Communications to the field units. Many fire departments utilize Motorola handhelds. Some administrative users are able to patch in using their cellular devices. Most of the field units have some sort of access to data through use of LTE "air cards" to network in and get dispatch information such as call location, call notes, etc. Whereas most of the Police officers and city fire departments have computer and network access, other smaller departments such as Volunteer Fire Departments rely on Active911 to get call location and data off an authorized cellular device by means of a smartphone app.

Dispatch

Public Safety dispatch is through the county's communication department, Bell County Communications Center. They are the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP for the incorporated and unincorporated areas within Bell County, Texas. Known to citizens or callers as "Bell County 9-1-1", responders often refer to them as Com center. Bell County communications operates a consolidated dispatch center in Belton, Texas, the county seat, near the relative central area of the County. This results in a 24/7 government department utilizing a shared set of GIS technician, Information Technology technicians, shared dispatchers, and shared systems for all of the users. (https://www.bellcountytx.com/departments/911commcenter/operations.php) (https://www.bellcountytx.com/departments/911commcenter/support_services.php)

Agencies Served

Public Safety Communications is handled by Bell County Communications Center and through their county employee dispatchers. This works out to efficient operations between agencies and resources and able to immediately pass on information from Emergency Call Taker (911 operator) to the responding agencies out of the same room. Conversely, the "city dispatcher" are actually county employees who do not operate within the city departments. Example, Killeen Police dispatch or Killeen Fire dispatcher are not in Killeen, Texas, nor are they City of Killeen employees, but rather employees of the county who can be thought of as contract workers to provide communications support and coordination to the agencies served. With the exception of private EMS agencies, nearly all county and city dispatch, except Fort Hood, are handled by the County Communications Department. Also, city public works may use some of the shared infrastructures like radio systems, but they do not have a county assigned dispatcher over city public works departments - such as streets, sanitation, animal control, etc.

Dispatch Divisions

Bell County Communications is the support agency for law enforcement communications. The dispatchers working for the county cover the following responsibilities:

  • Killeen Police Dispatch - handles Killeen City Police, Texas A&M University at Central Texas Police, and Central Texas College Police
  • LE2 dispatch -handles "west side" areas of Harker Heights City Police, Nolanville Police and Killeen's ISD Police Department.
  • TLETS 2 - Law Enforcement Support for Killeen Police Dispatch users and LE2 dispatch users.
  • LE3 dispatch - covers "central" areas of Belton City Police, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Police, Morgan's Point Resort Police, and Salado Police and coincidentally handles their own TLETS over the air services.
  • LE1 dispatch - handles the remaining rural agencies, all county based agencies such as Court Constables and Sheriff Department, as well as State and Federal resources such as Highway Patrol, Parks and Wildlife, Corps of Engineers Park Rangers, etc. Bell County Sheriff Office, Troy PD, Rogers PD, Bartlett PD, Little River/Academy PD and Holland PD reside in this domain. Bell County Sheriff Office TLETS also coincides with this dispatch.
  • Temple Police Dispatch - handles Temple City Police and Temple College Police Departments
  • TLETS1 - handles radio TLETS functions for Temple Police users and LE1 dispatch users with the exception of Bell County Sheriff Department
  • West Side Fire Dispatch - Killeen Fire and EMS dispatch, Harker Heights Fire and EMS dispatch, Southwest Bell County Fire and Rescue VFD, Central Bell County Fire and Rescue VFD, Acadian EMS
  • East Side Fire Dispatch - Temple Fire and Rescue, Belton Fire Department, AMR dispatch for Temple and Belton and respective county areas, Sparta VFD, Morgan's Point Resort VFD, Moffat VFD, Troy VFD, Rogers VFD, Little River/Academy VFD, Holland VFD, Salado VFD, Bartlett VFD

Unit Callsigns

To prevent confusion across agencies and since all departments use a common CAD system, each user has a unique callsign. Numerically, there may be some coincidences across departments, such as Killeen Police 300s, Temple Police 300s, Salado VFD 300s and the "remedy" is to label these units "Temple 300", "Salado 300", etc to differentiate.

  • Killeen PD - 3000 plus the units badge number is the typical format. Typical ranges 3300-3400 for patrol. Their PSO is 800.
     Chief is 100.
     Supervisors are "3-adam-##"
  • TAMU-CT -
  • CTC PD - 4100s.
  • Harker Heights PD - these do not match badge number but represent shift and division such as 5500s, 5600s. Their PSO is known as 5400.
  • Killeen ISD - 4300s.
  • Nolanville PD - 1800s. Example 1801 is chief.
  • Belton PD - 200s preceded by "Belton". Their CSS/PSO is known as 200.
     201-?212 are command staff. Example Chief is "Belton 201".
     220s-230s are Patrol. Example "Belton 220".
     250s are investigators/detectives.
  • UMHB PD - 800s. Their PSO is 800. Sometimes preceded by "University". Example "803" or "University 803".
  • Morgans Point Resort PD - 1500s. Example 1501 is chief.
  • Salado PD - 100s preceded by "Salado". Example "Salado 101".
  • Bell County Sheriff Dept - extensive ranges but generally 2200s for patrol and patrol command. Their PSO is known by PSO?
     2200-2219 is command staff
     2220-?2239 is patrol
     2250s-2260s are Investigators
     2280s are Patrol Reserves
     2400s-2500s are Jail or transport?
  • Texas Department of Public Safety "DPS" Highway Patrol - uses their state area-based call sign. This area generally consists of "6-adam-500s" and "6-adam-800s".
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens - typically 7400s.
  • Constables - formerly having "C" in their callsign. Now assigned as:
     Pct1 - 30s followed by "C". 
     Pct2 - 20s followed by "C". Example "20C".
     Pct3 - 4700s. Formerly 40s followed by "C".
     Pct4 - 1400s. Example 1401.
  • Bell County Fire Marshal - 2265 - Updated 10/01/2022. Formerly 2701.
  • Army Corps of Engineers Park Rangers - "Corp" plus unit number. Example "Corp 11".
  • Troy PD - 1100s. Example 1101.
  • Rogers PD - 50s followed by "R". Example 51R is chief.
  • Bartlett PD - 300s followed by "B". Example 307B.
  • Little River/Academy PD - 3800s. Example 3801.
  • Holland PD - 3700s. Example 3705.
  • Temple PD - 100s-200s-300s-400s-500s preceded by "Temple". Example "Temple 100" is chief.
     CST are PSOs in the 900 series. Other civilian personnel are 900s.
  • Temple College PD - 100s preceded by "TC". Example "TC100" is chief.
  • Killeen Fire/EMS - 200s for admin/command. Truck personnel are station number followed by letter in a hierarchy. Example "1A". Chief is "200".
  • Harker Heights Fire/EMS - Various. 400s for admin/command preceded by "Heights". Example "Heights 401" is chief.
  • Southwest Bell Co VFD - 700s preceded by "Southwest". Example "Southwest 701". Apparatus at https://swbcvfd.org/fire-station/
  • Central Bell Co VFD - 500s preceded by "Central Bell". Example "Central Bell 501".
  • Acadian EMS - various but generally 1200s preceded by "Acadian". Example "Acadian 1205".
  • Temple Fire - 800s for admin. Example "Temple 801" is chief.
  • Belton Fire - Updated 10/2022: Command is Belton Charlie 1/2/3. Formerly 150s for command preceded by "Belton". Example "Belton 153".
  • AMR - Temple Medic 20s, Belton Medic 1/2. Example "Temple Medic 23". Command is 900s example "Temple 901".
  • Sparta VFD - 770s?
  • Morgans Point Resort VFD - 600s. Chief is "Morgans Point 601". Also Marine61 at https://www.morganspointresorttx.com/1076/Marine-61
  • Moffat VFD
  • Troy VFD - 280s-290s?
  • Rogers VFD - 450s-470s?
  • Little River/Academy VFD - 380s?. Chief is "Little River 381".
  • Holland VFD - 550-580s?
  • Salado VFD - 300s. Example "Salado 301". Apparatus at https://www.saladofire.org/apparatus
  • Bartlett VFD - ?

Fire Response Areas

https://www.bellcountytx.com/Bell_County_Fire_Response_Areas.pdf Map Last updated 08/14/2017

Fire protection in Bell County is provided by fifteen (15) fire departments. Of these, eleven (11) are either combination (volunteer with small paid staff) or 100% volunteer. These departments operate around the clock to provide uninterrupted services to the citizens of Bell County. - https://www.bellcountytx.com/departments/fire_marshal/fire_departments.php

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