Burl Co Dispatch, somebody needs to say it

[NParkNJ]

that agency

Wow, that's sad. Considering the radio system they use($) and what they equip their officers with, you'd think they'd take care of the dispatchers better. And they aren't a "quiet" town either, compared to other nearby towns, including the one you dispatch for. Considering at times I've heard like 3-4 dispatchers all at the same time relaying info on their respective channels.

 

[howie38]

ten13 wrote:

Don't you hate it when the higher ups that get paid more, stay home in a snow storm but claim you're an essential worker.

 

[jmp883]

howie38 wrote:

Don't you hate it when the higher ups that get paid more, stay home in a snow storm but claim you're an essential worker.

We are essential workers, and I have no problem with the brass staying home. In my department the administrative brass (Lt's, Capt's, and the Chief) work M-F dayshift. If the weather event occurs when they're supposed to be working, they're in their offices working. What upsets me is that borough hall will either be closed for the entire day, or close early. When that happens the borough hall employees get compensated with a choice of time and a half for the time that borough hall is closed or taking it as compensatory time. The dispatchers here fall under that same contract but we don't get that compensation during a bad weather event because we are essential employees. My supervisors have fought with the town and we've fought with the union to allow us to get that same compensation but to no avail. I used to be a big fan of unions but in the 30 years I've been a dispatcher I've been in several municipal employee unions, each one worse than the previous one. Several times we tried to join several different communication worker/dispatcher unions. Each of the ones we tried to join refused our membership application. We're now with a very major union that has a great reputation for taking care of it's members. According to members we talked to in our area they all raved about being in this union and of how well they looked out for their members. Well our local must be the exception. I am not going to go into detail, this isn't the place for that. Suffice to say I am no longer a fan of unions.

 

[tonemaster]

Didn't feel like starting a new thread, but I recently launched a new website that includes the tone frequencies if anyone needs them. Similar to what @w2xq previously had set up. https://burlcodispatch.com/frequencies

 

[w2xq]

@tonemaster has complied a very comprehensive tone out dataset for Burlington County. Highly recommended and up to date. Much easier to read than whatever I managed to do. 👍

 

[W6VVM]

Anyone who can still hear their county’s comms should consider themself lucky.

 

[policefreak]

Is Central working out of their back up facility? The F-1 audio quality including the tones on P25 has been quite poor since last night.

 

[tonemaster]

Is Central working out of their back up facility? The F-1 audio quality including the tones on P25 has been quite poor since last night.

Nope. I too noticed the quality was barely audible on the digital patch this morning.

 

[howie38]

I just keep mine on the analog.

 

[wnjl]

I absolutely love the site, @tonemaster, thank you for making this available!

Just another random Burlco note that is not worthy of its own thread (and only a pure sicko would notice, lol); have the mutual aid "grids" been changed recently? Or maybe it is just happenstance, but I feel like I have heard some really long-range mutual aid dispatch calls lately (e.g. In the last week, Station 609 being dispatched for a job into Medford, and Station 258 being dispatched for a Willingboro call).

 

[tonemaster]

There are a bunch of different factors at play here. First, inadequate staffing is through the roof. Willingboro and Delran currently have NO crews on duty. Second, their immediate backups are also typically busy, so it’s not out of the ordinary to hear other towns within reason being dispatched in. However, that’s dependent on them actually responding. Numerous EMS agencies are refusing to respond to mutual aid calls either because the town they’re dispatched to doesn’t have a crew on duty (spiteful), or because they won’t commit a resource when there is only a single unit available for their own town (diplomatic). Third, most towns only have a few ambulances in their hierarchies, and if Central is lucky it’s built out further up to 25 in some cases. Lastly, the *sarcasm* wonderful new CAD system (10/1/19) frequently makes erroneous recommendations, but it is policy to “do what the computer says”. There is little leeway with operator discretion which is a true disservice to the residents of Burlington County.