Visiting the Communications Center in Prospect
In an effort to save money, some people have asked about "regionalizing" services. In consideration of this, the Council Planning Committee's Chairman, Jimmy Sima, has scheduled a visit to a regional dispatch center.
PLANNING COMMITTEE AND JOINT SPECIAL COUNCIL FIELD TRIP
7:30 P.M., WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2010
Site visit to:
Northwest Connecticut Public Safety Communication Center
28 Cheshire Road, Prospect, CT 06712
I'm open to hearing more about this. But at this point, I'm leaning against it. Not controlling this service -- including basic critical skills, such as pronunciation of street names -- is a concern for me. And FWIW, I've gotten feedback from several Council members on this. I think it's fair to say that everyone wants to save money, where possible. But everyone is also concerned about maintaining quality emergency services.
Tim White
3 comments:
Is there any thought as to how much could be saved by going to a regionalized dispatch? I understand that it works for small towns with resident troopers and small police forces but a town our size should have it's own dispatch. Regionalizing our dispatch would take control of patrol units away from the police station and put it into private control.
As the need to cut Town gov't spending grows acute in the years to come, we'll be faced with having to cut what we CAN vs what we WANT to. This is a PERFECT example.
20-30 years from now, when we dial 9-1-1, our dispatch center is likely to be located in New Delhi!!
Come on, no doubt it's already kind of like that now. Does anyone think that when you dial 911 there is a magic wire located in your town dedicated to sending your call directly to your very own expensive 911 call center staffed with your very own highly paid 911 operators?
It would not be surprising to find out that your call to a center 3 miles from your phone traveled many many times the actual distance. Wonder if 911 calls use satellite transponders - - add another 50,000 miles to that local call.
Combining services with other towns is a great idea so long as it is done to reduce staff and reduce costs and increase productivity.
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