The Unsung Heroes of Dispatching Published on Wed, May 19, 2010 by Robert Spinks, Sequim (WA) Police Chief http://www.sequimgazette.com/spinks Consolidation brings cost effectiveness Usually I write about crime issues; this week I want to highlight a group of unsung heroes who contribute daily to your safety and the effectiveness of police, fire and aid firstresponders. Telecommunicators! Sounds more like a new way to electronically commute to work versus being the men and women who man the phones, radios and computers in regional dispatch centers that are sprinkled throughout our state. Today the title of telecommunicator means much more than the old dispatcher title. These folks are armed with computers to enter emergency call data, have multiple radio channels to communicate across agency lines and are trained to provide emergency first aid instructions by phone. They also are the link between law enforcement and all of those computer files identifying wanted persons, driver's information and a host of court orders and safety information.
Just a few decades ago, police and sheriff's offices maintained their own individual and duplicated dispatch rooms. Then 9-1-1 replaced the thousands of individual phone numbers that went to tens of thousands of different agencies. A nationwide move in the 1980s began consolidating emergency dispatch services into more regional and professional operations. On the Olympic Peninsula, two major regional dispatch centers serve most police, fire and emergency aid agencies: • Peninsula Communications or "Pencom" is a division within the Port Angeles Police Department that serves 16 member agencies that comprise most of the local law enforcement and fire departments. • Jefferson County has Jefferson 9-1-1 Communications or "Jeffcom," which is a standalone intergovernmental agency located in the regional justice center in Port Hadlock.
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Jeffcom handles 9-1-1 and dispatch services for the Jefferson County Sheriff, Port Townsend Police and five fire departments. The Washington State Patrol still maintains an independent series of regional dispatch centers (the closest being in Bremerton), but there have been discussions about consolidating their operations with the Washington Department of Transportation.
Challenges Even with consolidation, 9-1-1 centers are challenged. With different models of operation, some like Pencom are a division within a larger organization like the city of Port Angeles. Other centers are standalone intergovernmental agencies; a county level organization that is supported and governed by their member agencies, such as Jeffcom operates.
Busy? Sitting in an air conditioned communications center may sound well a little cushy right? Think again. Pencom is stuffed into a space of less than 1,000 square feet. In this space, a minimum of three telecommunicators are on duty 24 hours a day. The total staff is comprised of 15 telecommunicators, three supervisors, one manager, two computer staff and one warrant/restraining entry person. In 2009, PenCom handled 32,019 calls to 91-1 and an additional 37,000 calls for law enforcement service, an additional 1,500 fire calls for service and 8,500 medical calls for service. More than 4,300 arrest warrants and 955 restraining orders also were processed by PenCom that year. Jeffcom is in a newer and more userfriendly facility and operates with 10 telecommunicators, two supervisors and four support staff plus a director. They are backed up by three part-time telecommunicators. According to the most recently posted information, Jeffcom handles nearly 26,000 calls for service. These include more than 21,000 that are law enforcement related. The remaining 5,000 are divided up among the five fire agencies.
While the police, fire and other related user agencies pay for the operation of 9-1-1 centers, the cost of operating technology reliant centers continues to rise. There is no one-size-fits-all funding solution in place across our state. The bulk of funding comes from each center's member agencies. Some funds are funneled from the state E9-1-1 excise tax revenues to these centers. In some counties, voters have approved a special 1/10th of 1 percent sales tax passed by local voters (that has occurred for both Pencom and Jeffcom). Independence makes sense There have been discussions about breaking Pencom out to become its own intergovernmental agency. This would provide the member agencies with direct oversight over the center, removing it from the direct control exercised in total by the city of Port Angeles. At the same time, Clallam County is in dire need of a structurally sound and expanded Emergency Operations Center. Clallam Sheriff Bill Benedict has been looking for federal funding to accomplish this task. Such a new EOC also might be able to house a new location for Pencom to expand out of its cramped quarters.
Many of these dispatch centers across the land have adopted a "one-stop shop" that Page 2 of 3
brings 9-1-1 services, dispatching as well as computer and other technology and radio needs used by all of these emergency agencies, under one roof to increase efficiency while reducing overall costs. Central radio maintenance, bulk purchases of vehicle and portable radios, as well as the data terminals that have infiltrated police and fire vehicles and their required computing software and data storage - it makes sense to bring all of these fragmented, duplicated purchases and services under one roof. That "one-stop shop" concept has been the trend for many years in other regions across the country and in the Pacific Northwest. It's cost effective, accountable and just makes sense to move toward, especially during these tight economic times. Jeffcom already is an intergovernmental agency - a step in the right direction.
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