OVSCAN

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is changing the way it dispatches troopers by combining the dispatchers from six counties into one center in St. Clairsville.

Patrol Staff Lt. Matt Evans, who is assistant district commander, said troopers still will be stationed at the Steubenville post on Cadiz Road after the change occurs later this summer.

The patrol invested in a new radio system — a Multi-Agency Radio Communication System, or MARCS — that gives the patrol statewide communication capabilities.

Troopers used to fill in as dispatchers in the past but won’t be able to with MARCS because of the training involved, according to Evans. Dispatchers from posts in Belmont, Monroe, Washington, Morgan, Jefferson and Harrison counties in August or September all will begin work out of the St. Clairsville post, dispatching for troopers in the six counties that make up the patrol’s District 7.

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