Central Dispatch.... Pro's and Con's.

[Fluffy126577]

Alright friends, I got a situation for you and I am curious on opinions from everyone.


Right now in the county we have the PD who has dispatchers(PD, Fire, and City 911) the SO who has dispatchers(Deputies, County Fire and County 911), a private ambulance company who dispatchers their trucks when they receive a 911 call from the city (currently the only one's they get unless we roll a call to them), and then our private ambulance company who has their own dispatchers and we also dispatch for the other two municipal EMS in the county.


The county wants to go to a central dispatch because at this time they don't know what we are doing or the other private ambulance company is doing and there have been issues with coverages in both the city and the county but the call is always taken care of. Basically I feel like it is a logistical nightmare becuase we still have to track our trucks and so on and so forth.


My question to you is what are some opinions out there? Everyone says this system is broken and it needs fixed but no one seems to know the solution. I am trying to reach out to everyone to get input and see what people do ESPECIALLY if you are with a private ambulance company and have a central dispatch.


If you need any further clarification to the situation please ask. I know it may be confusing.

 

[colby4601]

Although not with a Private Ambulance company per se, we are dispatched out of a Regional Communications Centre which handles ALL Medical/Fire for the southern part of our province. While this isn't quite a fully integrated central dispatch system like I would like to see, it is certainly ideal.


If the powers that be are willing to move into a central dispatch centre type system, then I would absolutely recommend it. A communications centre like that really brings interoperability to it's highest level.

 

[FireEMSPolice]

I am a huge proponent of combined dispatch centers. Duplicating resources is a waste of money.


Ashland County and Delaware County are 2 that I can think of that have combined dispatch centers.


Delaware County just combined their dispatch center with Delaware City. They got one hell of a person to do it too, a person who has a reputation of combining dispatch centers and making them efficient or so I hear. Looks like it runs well. His name is Bob Greenlaw and he is the 911 Communications Director.


People want Mansfield City and Richland County to combine dispatch centers. I wish they would, especially since Mansfield is in fiscal emergency.


I think Hocking County is combined also.

 

[FreshDave04]

Our PD dispatch handles the city's PD and FD/EMS. In addition, the county has a separate dispatch center for PD and township FD's... we're in the process of combining all those resources into a combined dispatch center that will be located in my city's current dispatch location.


Gone will be the days of rolling over calls, taking crucial time away from service because FD and PD can't property communicate, etc. The big hiccup as of right now is the county is on 800mhz. The city has to make the transition before all resources can be combined.

 

[dustymedic]

i work for a regional fire only comm center that serves 6 departments. Everyone now has MDTs and a custom mapping program, along with a lot other things that nobody could afford on their own. Plus it's nice to always have at least 2 other people working with you at all times, especially when you're trying to get companies out through multiple calls or giving CPR instructions over the phone...

 

[Fluffy126577]

i work for a regional fire only comm center that serves 6 departments. Everyone now has MDTs and a custom mapping program, along with a lot other things that nobody could afford on their own. Plus it's nice to always have at least 2 other people working with you at all times, especially when you're trying to get companies out through multiple calls or giving CPR instructions over the phone...

See, that's where we are not the same. The S.O. is going to be hosting the "central dispatch" as in the the 911 calls will come into them and then they want control over who they send and where and when. They want to know where the trucks are and what rescources they have. Good for the most part but we still need control and direction over our trucks because we will have to do the billing process. No on is moving dispatchers into one center they just want to dispatch everything out of one center.

 

[RolnCode3]

I was going to use this as my thesis topic in grad school until something else came along.


I started looking into this, and I found that there is no guideline on how to assess whether consolidation (or colocation - what it sounds like you might be talking about) should be done, how successful it will be, what issues will arise, or how much money can be saved. I did find a few locations that reviewed the project afterwards however.


WESTCOMM was one agency I found that did some analysis. http://www.wdm-ia.com/Index.aspx?page=559


I think this topic is ripe for analysis. A set of best practices with empirical evidence for other agencies to use would be best. Maybe a National Fire Academy or IACP project?

 

[kinnelonfire75]

I think central dispatch is a bad idea. I come from an area where each town has 2-3 officers on shift and they have their own dispatcher. This dispatcher also does Fire/EMS for the town. A central dispatch center is ideally nice, however a dispatcher that handles 6 towns will have a tougher time doing officer checks every few minutes (or it will not happen) and things will be much more "straight forward" than with a dispatcher handling the handful of units and being able to devote enough attention to each unit. It might sound cheesy but I am mainly looking at it from the officer safety perspective. I know this does not happen in big cities like New York or Chicago but around here we are fighting. My town and the neighboring town are one of the few that have their own dispatch centers left, everyone else has gone to the county communications center.


Additionally, its nice to have a face when you walk to into the station. A dispatcher 15 miles away isn't as helpful as one that you can walk into that you know and can speak to personally when you need to.


Hope that gives some insight.

 

[rwo978]

I think central dispatch is a bad idea. I come from an area where each town has 2-3 officers on shift and they have their own dispatcher. This dispatcher also does Fire/EMS for the town. A central dispatch center is ideally nice, however a dispatcher that handles 6 towns will have a tougher time doing officer checks every few minutes (or it will not happen) and things will be much more "straight forward" than with a dispatcher handling the handful of units and being able to devote enough attention to each unit. It might sound cheesy but I am mainly looking at it from the officer safety perspective. I know this does not happen in big cities like New York or Chicago but around here we are fighting. My town and the neighboring town are one of the few that have their own dispatch centers left, everyone else has gone to the county communications center.

Additionally, its nice to have a face when you walk to into the station. A dispatcher 15 miles away isn't as helpful as one that you can walk into that you know and can speak to personally when you need to.


Hope that gives some insight.

My sentiments exactly. 2 yrs ago, we joined with central dispatch, we were the last hold out. Yes, it saves money. But, our bang for our buck went way down. There's things that our dispatchers did that I wouldn't even dream of asking central to do, they just don't have the resources. I, and many other officers, feel it was a bad idea strictly made from a money standpoint.

 

[dustymedic]

4 of our departments were dispatched by the PDs before, and you know that running a license plate is more important than dispatching a working fire. 2 others had a single dispatcher on duty in a corner of the firehouse by themselves, with no kitchen or rest room near by. Now there's 3 or 4 on duty at all times; so when you need to go to the bathroom, you can. You can heat up your meal when you're hungry (most of time). I've worked places where you had to wait hours for the crews on duty to return to quarters so you can take a break.

 

[TritonBoulder47]

In my area, all we have is a centralized dispatch...


I work for Wyoming County 911, some of my duties are the following:


- I answer 911 calls for all of wyoming county, plus 6 out of county municipalities.


- I answer cell 911 calls for the above listed areas, plus if if some skip into up and need to be transferred.


- I answer business calls from 2 local police agencies that have their phones forwarded when they are out of the office.


- I answer non-emergency calls that come into our center.


- I answer phone calls for the Juvenile and Adult probation.


- I dispatch for 7 different local police agencies. (non 24-7 departments, which consist of 26 officers)


- I dispatch for 8 Fire Companies.


- I dispatch for 4 Ambulance Companies.


- I dispatch for 4 comnined Fire/Ambulance companits.


- I dispatch for 1 medic unit. (we only have 1 in our whole county, run out of our local hospital)


- I also dispatch our local EMA and our County Coroner.


All of the above is done by every dispatcher that works here. We do not have separate call-takers and dispatchers. You answer the call, you're dispatching the units...


The Sheriff's Office is run by themselves, but they are a traditional police agency in my county. (but hopefully that will be change soon...)

 

[ParkPiggy]

I'm a huge proponent of centralized dispatch, when done properly. It does not need to be a county wide thing, but somewhat regional works well. If done correctly, it will not save a lot of money, but make things significantly safer for the officers and the public. There is no need to lay off the merged dispatchers-you'll still need them working. The benefit, is that everyone is playing from the same script. 911 calls can be routed to specific consoles, while non-emergency lines are answered at others. Officers running LEADS/NCIC info can be on separate channels, dealing with specific dispatchers.


A huge problem we have at the park, is local PDs poaching OUR calls. With centralized dispatch, I think they would be more apt to directly dispatch the correct authority to handle calls in their own jurisdiction.

 

[theroofable]

Before we had a local dispatcher, we used the neighboring township's dispatch center for our fire and ems. Lets just say whenever their township had a call with one of their stations, we were ignored and had to call repeatedly for an answer, and radio traffic was always heavy. This among other problems lead to our township creating its own 911 owns and mans our 911 center and handles all the fire and ems dispatching. We do not have a police department though so no dispatch for that. Its much more local system and works very well.

 

[blackcherryxj]

The important thing to remember when dealing with a central dispatch is to have enough dispatchers in at all times to cover all agencies that would be needed if it hit the fan.


I'll use one of the local counties for example, and they have a private ambulance with their own dispatch which is what the OP asked for.


They Dispatch:


1 PD, 1 SO, 1 City Fire, 5 County Fire, Animal Control, Rescue Squad, and inbound radio calls from any other local government agency needing help.


They also answer EVERY emergency call coming in from the county, run NCIC and locals, and dispatch the agencies, and forward medical calls to the private dispatch.


They range from having 2 dispatchers on to 5, depending on the time and day of the week. This puts them in a bad situation.


I have personally called with emergency traffic for over 12 calls in a row without a response. This was documented very well by numerous people.


The best part is that information can be passed very quickly, the bad part is that you have to have enough dispatchers on duty AT ALL TIMES, to handle whatever may come up. So if you have one on PD because they have to babysit, and one on SO, make sure a 3rd and 4th are there to handle calls and FD and Rescue.


That's my biggest gripe is not being answered because they are "too busy" to answer my call, because the cops are "more important".

 

[kinnelonfire75]

In my area, all we have is a centralized dispatch...

I work for Wyoming County 911, some of my duties are the following:


- I answer 911 calls for all of wyoming county, plus 6 out of county municipalities.


- I answer cell 911 calls for the above listed areas, plus if if some skip into up and need to be transferred.


- I answer business calls from 2 local police agencies that have their phones forwarded when they are out of the office.


- I answer non-emergency calls that come into our center.


- I answer phone calls for the Juvenile and Adult probation.


- I dispatch for 7 different local police agencies. (non 24-7 departments, which consist of 26 officers)


- I dispatch for 8 Fire Companies.


- I dispatch for 4 Ambulance Companies.


- I dispatch for 4 comnined Fire/Ambulance companits.


- I dispatch for 1 medic unit. (we only have 1 in our whole county, run out of our local hospital)


- I also dispatch our local EMA and our County Coroner.


All of the above is done by every dispatcher that works here. We do not have separate call-takers and dispatchers. You answer the call, you're dispatching the units...


The Sheriff's Office is run by themselves, but they are a traditional police agency in my county. (but hopefully that will be change soon...)

How does that work out for you? Can you do an officer check for each guy (or gal) that has signed out at a scene every 3 minutes? I commend you for doing quite a job, but centralized lacks many components that are key to me.

I'm a huge proponent of centralized dispatch, when done properly. It does not need to be a county wide thing, but somewhat regional works well. If done correctly, it will not save a lot of money, but make things significantly safer for the officers and the public. There is no need to lay off the merged dispatchers-you'll still need them working. The benefit, is that everyone is playing from the same script. 911 calls can be routed to specific consoles, while non-emergency lines are answered at others. Officers running LEADS/NCIC info can be on separate channels, dealing with specific dispatchers.

A huge problem we have at the park, is local PDs poaching OUR calls. With centralized dispatch, I think they would be more apt to directly dispatch the correct authority to handle calls in their own jurisdiction.

See but no one wants to merge under one name and then keep all the jobs. They want to merge under the county and have one dispatcher covering what used to be 3 jobs.


Whats more, is that there has been talk of merging all the police departments under the county. That has not been taken very well by anyone. It would reduce the shifts by a lot and be dangerous quite frankly. Police/Fire/EMS should be one of those jobs that are protected against everything.


Prime example: Camden, NJ - the police and fire bosses have come out and made statements telling the citizens to put out their own fires and get used to protecting themselves. Camden is no longer able to handle more than one structure fire at a time without mutual aid support. That is pathetic.

 

[TritonBoulder47]

How does that work out for you? Can you do an officer check for each guy (or gal) that has signed out at a scene every 3 minutes? I commend you for doing quite a job, but centralized lacks many components that are key to me.

We currently have 2-3 dispatchers on every shift... When we are at full staff we have 3-4, and some shifts have 5 on at a time. Our status checks are every 5 minutes, but yes, we can check every officer... What components are you talking about, specifically...?

 

[rwo978]

I have personally called with emergency traffic for over 12 calls in a row without a response. This was documented very well by numerous people.

Ditto. One stop I made was on a banger from California. Was revoked, so was going to be arrested for a couple things. I called out the stop 5-6 times, eventually telling the other guys, "Hey, I'm over here in case it hits the fan."

That's my biggest gripe is not being answered because they are "too busy" to answer my call, because the cops are "more important".

Same for us, except we are PD, but we are the smallest agency in the Central Dispatch.

 

[colby4601]

Just to add further to my earlier post, our Regional Communications Centre handles 53 ambulance services, 103 fire departments and dispatches 107 First Responder Teams. This resource potential makes the Regional Communications Centre in Regina the largest of it's kind. The centre also handles 7 cities and of course hundreds of towns, villages and Rural Municipalities (our word for counties).


There is one EMS dispatcher dedicated specifically to the city of Regina, which has a population of about 205,000. There is then two EMD/Fire dispatchers which handle the remaining 6 cities (split 3 and 3) and the towns, villages and RM's. All of these dispatchers have the ability to answer 911 calls if need be and operate on another dispatchers channels for relief or overflow. Along with the three dispatchers, there are two call takers on. One call taker for the City and one for Rural.


Personally, I believe our centre has truly achieved a centralized regional dispatch centre "status". No one is "forgotten" or "ignored" for another EMS service or Fire department. Something must be working considering we still reach the national response times 98% of the time. That's pretty damn good. And it all starts with a fluent and effective dispatch centre.


Just some food for thought.

 

[PJD642]

We have a centralized dispatch here for the eastern part of the county. The western cities all have their own PD/FD dispatches. IIRC, Central handles 13 FDs and 11 PDs.


It works great, unless, as is happening here, the idiot (aka Sheriff) running Central thinks they know everything and imposes their rules on all the other PDs. Like assigning case numbers to every phone message they relay to me from someone who has a question about where to take an injured duck or whatever. Do that for messages your deputies get, if you want, but don't arbitrarily decide that MY agency needs to track that BS too. We've already had one PD break away & start their own dispatch, and another agency will be switching to them on Feb 2nd.


The western PDs all had the chance to join Central back in the 1980s when it started. None of 'em did, not because its a bad idea, but because the Sheriff wanted to run everything with no input from any "lesser" agency. If Central was run by people from multiple agencies and not just the SO, there'd be a lot more dispatchers at Central because they'd be handling the whole county.

 

[philyumpshus]

My home county is all dispatched out of one center and it works really well. The physical size of my county is huge and the southern end is almost unreachable by radio. In the past, those municipalities dispatched themselves but they are now switching over the the county center because they can transmit radio signals through the internet to repeaters (or something like that).


My school county's dispatch is a complete cluster. They dispatch over 50 fire and EMS agencies on ONE channel. My home county is all combination departments and EMS always takes preference over anything else. My school county is all separate EMS/Fire agencies and they will literally wait on dispatching EMS if there is a fire. No one uses the fire ground frequencies so it's always a huge mess of radio traffic when something happens. My squad is dispatched by the village PD who we share a building with. We have our own frequency, repeaters, tactical channels etc. This works really well because we run about 1,500 calls a year and the county's ONE dispatch channel wouldn't take the traffic (we're not even the biggest EMS agency in the county). Lately, the county has been pushing us to move to central dispatch because the fire guys "like to know when we're out of service." This county has some great thinkers. We've since reached somewhat of a compromise- we're still dispatched by PD but county also tones us out. The tones from PD are what activate our pagers but now the you can listen to our dispatch on the county channel, too. Like I said, it's a cluster.

 

[Alovebaby41]

We have the police comm center takes all 911 calls then has to transfer them to fire dispatch which then has to transfer from fire to ambulance service. So it gets to become a mess sometimes. But there is sometimes a delayed response from fire and ems because of this.

 

[Alex]

The phoenix-metro area is, what I believe, to be a unique system. All the police departments are large enough for their own communications or dispatch center. Even within the individual police agencies, they break up their areas or beats onto different channels with their own dispatcher assigned.


These police agencies are the PSAPs for their cities. When any of the local PSAPs receives a request for fire or ems response, the call is then routed to one of 3 secondary Fire & EMS PSAPs (Phoenix Fire Regional Comm Center, Mesa Fire Comm Center, and Rural Metro Comm Center).


The great thing about a regional communications center partnered with an automatic aid system ensures the closest, most appropriate resource for any emergency. Basically, there is no fire department jurisdictions. I can dial 9-1-1 from my home in Glendale to report a house fire and shortly fire units from Phoenix, Peoria, Sun City and Tolleson. All fire and ems units are equipped with MDCs (which include the dedicated private ambulances contracted to that particular city).


http://www.pueblogrande.com/FIRE/rdc.html

Just an hour outside of the Greater Phoenix-Metro area locates rural Pinal County. The sheriff's office if the PSAP county wide with 3 exceptions to the Town of Florence, City of Coolidge, and City of Casa Grande Police Departments. There are several small departments that currently have their own dispatcher for the 1 or 2 officers that are on duty. There were talks about the formation of a Law Enforcement Regional Communications Center hosted by Pinal County. Because of the geographical area of the county, communications would be separated to ensure no overcrowding on a singular frequency, thus eliminating the officers that go un-checked. Currently dispatchers check on every radio deputy and officer on duty every hour, and every 5 mins while on an incident. We also have a separate 'inquiry' frequency dedicated for NCIC requests, tow truck requests, routing, and any other non-emergency transmission.

 

[psteele]

I work for a dispatch center where we provide services for 38 different fire/EMS agencies (covering 1,494 square miles - slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island). We do have one private ambulance company that we dispatch for. All other agencies are either career or call/volunteer fire departments. That one private company provides 911 EMS service for 5 of the towns that we cover.


For the private company we track their times if they're involved in a 911 run. If they're involved in their own transfer they track their own times.


There are several other smaller dispatch centers around here (usually the PD's) that will dispatch PD, fire, and EMS for their own town. That is a nightmare on the fire side when they need to call for mutual aid. It results in the dispatcher having to make a half dozen phone calls to different centers to get everyone on the road.


For the area that we cover there are 14 different PD dispatch centers that we deal with. Thankfully everyone in the state (except for 2 cities) are on VHF radio systems. That makes it easier to monitor and communicate with the PD and mutual aid companies.


In New Hampshire if you dial 911 your call will go to one of TWO PSAP's in the entire state. From there the 911 operator will transfer your call to the appropriate dispatch center. If the call is for EMS or for an MVA the 911 operator will stay on the line and provide pre-arrival instructions to the caller. Police and fire calls get transferred as soon as the nature of the problem is stated and the location has been determined (instantly for land line phones and within seconds on cell phone calls).


The NH 911 system makes things sooooo much easier on my end. I pick up the phone, confirm the address and nature of emergency and hang up!