More dispatch concerns in Kent County

[BazookaJoe]

Here's another recent incident to add to the list of why they are strongly considering a central dispatch authority for Kent County (or whatever the current status is on that project).

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5820282

video: http://video.woodtv.com/vid.wvx.php?video_id=5017

Edit: Updated video after 6 pm.

[GTO_04]

Is central dispatch the solution to all problems though?

Why do the Wyoming Police lack the ability to transfer calls to the city's own fire department? It makes no sense to transfer it to Grand Rapids so they could transfer it back to Wyoming! The dispatcher could have just picked up the phone and called the fire department directly and it would have been quicker.

My county does not have central dispatch, and we have no issues with fire and police transferring calls to each other. A neighboring counthy has central dispatch, and it takes quite a bit longer for them to even answer the phone! Central dispatch does not cure all ills!

GTO_04

[jack3726]

I lived in the area for years, the county has been dispatching for the city for a very long time. Central dispatching for Kent County and it's suburbs would be very difficult in my opinion. Although a Central dispatching approach would probably work, to many want there own controls and there are some that do not(that is why they pay the county to do the dispatching for them). Lowell, Grandville, Sparta etc have always had different approaches to PD dispatching over the years as well. Here is a question that I have(since I am not in the area anymore), can the city of wyoming PD talk on the MSP system to a trooper if he needed to. If a cell phone motorist calls in a problem on US131 by let's say 44th street and a tragedy ensued from this situation, it could to be effected by the cell phone routing and eventual dispatching of the police.

[bigbluemsp]

Central Dispatch is a far superior method then having several departments dispatching their own people. This was there is 1 call center with call takers and several radio opperators. Instead of transferring calls from dispatch center to dispatch center the call taker gets the info sends it via CAD to the radio opperator for immediate dispatch. The call taker will know who/what department will get the call or if on a freeway they will put it out as a GENERAL call for either a County or State unit to grab. There is far less bias with a Central Diaspatch as oppsed to a one department ran center. Take Dispatch out of the hands of the city and county departments and put into the hands of a neutral company to do the radio work. Causes less strife with departments that way.

[ctrabs74]

Originally Posted by bigbluemsp

Central Dispatch is a far superior method then having several departments dispatching their own people. This was there is 1 call center with call takers and several radio opperators. Instead of transferring calls from dispatch center to dispatch center the call taker gets the info sends it via CAD to the radio opperator for immediate dispatch. The call taker will know who/what department will get the call or if on a freeway they will put it out as a GENERAL call for either a County or State unit to grab. There is far less bias with a Central Diaspatch as oppsed to a one department ran center. Take Dispatch out of the hands of the city and county departments and put into the hands of a neutral company to do the radio work. Causes less strife with departments that way.

As someone who lives in a state where county-wide or "central" dispatch is the rule rather than the exception, to me the biggest issue is a single PSAP for a particular county is politics. You're likely going to have at least one L/E or fire/EMS agency that's going to insist on either maintaining its own dispatch center or even it's own radio system, compared to the rest of that county. Breaking down those barriers and "kingdoms" is going to be the critical first step in forming a county-wide dispatch.

In the Philadelphia area, for the most part, most of the counties have a central dispatch point for all PD/FD/EMS agencies (Bucks, Lancaster, Lebanon), though counties still have a few self-dispatched muni PD's (Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Lehigh, Northampton, and Berks). For the most part, these dispatch centers are county-run centers that are under the county's Department of Emergency Services/Office of Emergency Management (whichever is the term) as opposed to a third-party (which seems to be how you're describing "Central Dispatch"; if I mis-read that, then I apologize).

[bigbluemsp]

Originally Posted by ctrabs74

As someone who lives in a state where county-wide or "central" dispatch is the rule rather than the exception, to me the biggest issue is a single PSAP for a particular county is politics. You're likely going to have at least one L/E or fire/EMS agency that's going to insist on either maintaining its own dispatch center or even it's own radio system, compared to the rest of that county. Breaking down those barriers and "kingdoms" is going to be the critical first step in forming a county-wide dispatch.

In the Philadelphia area, for the most part, most of the counties have a central dispatch point for all PD/FD/EMS agencies (Bucks, Lancaster, Lebanon), though counties still have a few self-dispatched muni PD's (Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Lehigh, Northampton, and Berks). For the most part, these dispatch centers are county-run centers that are under the county's Department of Emergency Services/Office of Emergency Management (whichever is the term) as opposed to a third-party (which seems to be how you're describing "Central Dispatch"; if I mis-read that, then I apologize).

Yes here all Central Dispatch Authorities are run 3rd party w/o bias to a specific department.

From what I've seen the most squared away Central Dispatch Authorities are Livingston, Monroe and Lapeer Counties. None are run by a department other then a 3rd party contractor.