Additionally, this new system allows for menu options for certain offices when people call in who may have a question about basic information.

“For instance, the detention center, when people call there (for the) operations hours, there’s a menu option to do that instead of talking to a person,” Hofbauer said. “We have plans to do more of that.”

Hofbauer credited the work of Chris Braun, who works in IT for Platte County.

“A gentleman here, Chris Braun, he’s instrumental in a lot of this, as far as the day-to-day operations — taking care of the individuals and the employees, as well as working on enhancing our infrastructure,” Hofbauer said. “Having him on board full-time with his background in security and IT is helping us tremendously.”

Jerry Engdahl, chairman of the Platte County Board of Supervisors, noted that the recent technology upgrades were also completed due to the county’s E911 cooperation with the City of Columbus.

“That requires new phones and at the same time, we decided to upgrade a lot of the phones in the courthouse,” Engdahl said. “It’s something that needed to be done.”

Hofbauer said that there have been technology upgrades to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office as well – a live mapping feature inside of law enforcement vehicles.