Emergency telephone number

Cuyahoga County and Chagrin Valley Dispatch (CVD), which handles 911 service for 36 communities plus the county sheriff and Cleveland Metroparks, are at odds over CVD's decision to spend more than $5 million on its own call-handling system ahead of a new consolidated dispatch center opening in December. The county, which has spent 12 years building a countywide 911 network and plans its own upgrade for Next Generation 911 by 2027-28, says a second system duplicates costs, risks fragmenting emergency communications, and violates the 2024 countywide 911 plan. CVD says its system works alongside the county's, costs communities nothing, and lets them adopt Next Generation 911 sooner. The dispute also centers on how state 911 funding should be divided, with both sides disputing whether the separate systems can interoperate safely.