To some, it just looks like a color-coded white binder — full of papers, rules and regulations.
But to Director Lori Jenkins and the Trigg County 911 crew, it means much, much more.
Monday night at Trigg County Fiscal Court, and after months and months of painstaking revisions and rewriting, magistrates approved the community’s new 911 Standard Operating Guidelines — upgrading from an overstuffed yellow file folder burdened with paperclips and stapled stacks, to something with a little bit more cohesion, clarity and comprehension.
Jenkins called the task “a massive overhaul,” looking to better align with compliance, and seek accreditation with the Kentucky Association of Chiefs of Police.
Jenkins also gave a brief history of how 911 policies and guidelines came to be, and it’s a history that spans less than four decades.
The very first documents drafted for local 911 regulations, she said, came in 1986 — before she was born. What is now “Trigg County 911” was known as “Trigg County Communications,” as there was no state required training or policy beyond basic personnel requirements.
In 1994, state required training arrived, and it’s when Trigg County mandated radio and telephone calls be recorded, while changing shift recording procedures.
In 2007, Trigg County introduced its “Emergency Services E-911 Standard Operating Procedures,” and she called this a “pivotal moment” because it eliminated a lot of personnel policies, and relied “solely on those implemented by Trigg County Fiscal Court,” and focused strictly on call-handling: the who, what, where, when and why of emergency dispatch.
In 2018, she said they worked hard to make sure the new sets of guidelines addressed “agency-specific” procedures, hoping to align with state and federal regulations.
In 2020, a “performance standard” was added to the guidelines, creating what she said was a “clear understanding” of what was expected as a Trigg County dispatcher — and that it has since fostered trust, transparency and accountability.
Jenkins said that, as of spring 2025, Trigg County’s dispatch crew has one of the lowest turnover rates in west Kentucky — despite some pay discrepancies from surrounding counties.
Judge-Executive Stan Humphries confirmed the Trigg County 911’s Board of Directors has once again resumed meeting about once a quarter over the last few months, in order to hear Jenkins and get opportunities like this more squared away.
In fact, Trigg County 911 has been supremely tested just in the last 96 hours — following not only the typical daily traffic, but also the torrential rains and storms that rolled through west Kentucky.
