Chief Tony Dwyer said the sheriff’s office has had ongoing discussions with all the police agencies in the county. He said it would not be appropriate to discuss individual discussions with other jurisdictions because there are personnel issues involved. But the regional approach to policing is always on the table.
“It’s a renewed sense of regionalization and resource sharing,” he said. “It’s what we’ve seen with all the different stuff, like drug units or SWAT teams all those things we do together, so we’ve continued those discussions.”
There is some sense of urgency on the dispatch front because the state has mandated a reduction of the number of independent dispatch centers. There are now five agencies that dispatch emergency calls for police and fire in the county. The sheriff, Middletown, Fairfield, Oxford and West Chester Twp. all answer their own calls for service. The state says counties must reduce the number of emergency dispatch centers to four by 2016 and to three in 2018.
The sheriff’s dispatchers have answered and dispatched help on 139,539 calls this year. The bulk of the callers — 65,523 — came from Hamilton. The county’s largest city turned its dispatching duties over to the county a year ago. Hamilton Public Safety Director Scott Scrimizzi said the city saved almost $500,000 in the first year plus they did not have to replace their antiquated records management system.
He said while there have been some growing pains in the first year, overall he has been very pleased with the service the county has provided.
“I’m extremely satisfied,” he said. “I never got one single complaint, phone call, anything. The transition was so smooth.”
None of the four other dispatch center operators would say they are interested in having the sheriff take over for them, but they all have considered the pros and cons, in light of the state edict.
Middletown Mayor Larry Mulligan said they have taken a preliminary look at consolidating operations, they are in the throes of reexamining their entire public safety operations. But he said the whole purpose would be to save significant money, like Hamilton, and he’s not sure this would.
“I’m open to looking at it,” he said. “We just need to make sure it’s a cost effective for us. We need to look at the savings and the county is saying it’s cost neutral. It’s insignificant savings I’d say, to really warrant the change. Hamilton certainly saw some significant changes.”
He said the city’s dispatch center serves as a 24/7 point of contact with the city for its residents and that would be a loss.
In that same vein, Fairfield Police Chief Mike Dickey said their dispatchers also enter the municipal court’s warrants into the computer. Someone would have to do that job if the dispatchers left.
Dickey said they don’t have all the factors they need to make a decision on consolidation.
“I’m not opposed to consolidating with anybody as a matter of philosophy,” he said. “I really want to see what I would be getting and giving in this consolidation.”
Then there is the matter of dispatchers knowing the physical and geographic landscape of the jurisdiction they are sending officers and firefighters into. Dispatching a single squad to an accident in the rural parts of the county is probably very appropriate, but a wreck on Tylersville Road is likely another matter.
West Chester Twp. Administrator Judi Boyko said there are many things to consider in the consolidation discussion, not the least of which is each community’s profile.
“The familiarity with the community, the protocols the fire and police use and implement to dispatch personnel and equipment, those are all community specific,” she said. “Those conditions would need to be analyzed as part of any decision to consolidate, to be consolidated.”
Recent investments in dispatch systems are also a consideration. West Chester spent about $5 million five years ago to build a new dispatch and information technology center and Boyko said that commitment to community service can’t be discounted.
Oxford City Manager Doug Elliott said they recently spent $200,000 on a new computer dispatch report management system, and that must be considered as well.
Elliott said their situation is further complicated by the fact they also dispatch for Oxford Twp. and Miami University. He said however he understands why consolidation needs to happen, given the county stands to lose about $400,000 in 911 funding from the state if they don’t.
Dwyer said the state might not pull the plug on funding, especially if they consider the large step forward the county took by taking over for Hamilton. If the county took over dispatching for another jurisdiction, the center would need to be expanded and obviously more dispatchers would be needed, according to Dwyer. The county’s dispatch budget is $2.4 million and Hamilton pays about $900,000 for the service. Dwyer said everybody involved could save with more jurisdictions being dispatched under one roof.
“You get some economy of scale,” he said. “The more you take on it doesn’t take quite as much to do, because you’re sharing resources.”
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